East High School reopened a wound that many schools nationwide have been dealing with. What happened at East High made many students more aware of the gun laws being passed.

On Apr. 5,  a nationwide walkout was supposed to take place. Many students at Smoky posted on social media about how the walkout will also be taking place at the school.  The number of students reposting and sharing the awareness was inspirational, but the lack of students actually participating in the protest was pathetic.

There are around two thousand students at Smoky, out of all those students a very small number participated in the walkout. The impact of this was frightening. Out of all two thousand plus students, less than five students walked out.

The walkout at Smoky was extremely disorganized, with not many students knowing where to meet or even the cause of the walkout.  The protest made many students believe that walking out gave them permission to skip school for the rest of the day which is due to having no clarity of how long they were supposed to protest for.

Smoky Hill staff did not help clarify this issue. A letter was sent out to all staff,  talking about the walkout and how long their students were allowed to protest. The email only being sent out to staff, meant that students had no way of knowing how long they were allowed to walk out for.

I felt that students should have organized this more clearly, as well as set up where and how long it was taking place. The staff should have also made students aware of how long they were allowed to be excused for the walkout.

This issue of gun laws and the violence behind them is still very much ongoing and without students and staff protesting the change will stay undetermined.