Published On: Tue, Feb 20th, 2018

West Boca High School Students March to Stoneman Douglas to Protest Gun Violence

By: Pedro Heizer

Seventeen minutes of silence ended up transforming into a 10.5-mile trek to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in honor of the victims who lost their lives at the deadly massacre on February 14.

During the moment of silence, a few students began walking toward nearby Loggers’ ‘Run Park, but others decided to take the demonstration a step further and decided to go on a three and a half hour walk to Stoneman Douglas.

“We were all just sitting in the courtyard with the rest of our school where we did 17 minutes of silence for the victims,” said Nicole Silverstein, a senior at West Boca High School. “It escalated to people chanting ‘No justice, no peace’, and then people just began to walk out of school.”

Silverstein, along with fellow classmates Pedro Arizarry and Hayley Farburn hopped on an Uber and purchased seven cases of water for their fellow classmates. Residents then began to join in and bring Gatorade, chips, and cookies, while some even bought a pallet filled with cases of water.

“We hope they get our message,” added Farburn. “We have come all this distance to make a change.”

West Boca High School principal, Craig Sommer walked with the kids for a portion of the trip before getting in a car and meeting his students at the Parkland school.

“We are here for our kids,” said Sommer.

A handful of Palm Beach County School District buses were sent to Stoneman Douglas on the order of Sommer for kids to be picked up and dropped off at West Boca High School at the end of the demonstration.

“The fact that all these people are out here supporting our movement, and our school is absolutely incredible and I couldn’t have asked for anything else,” said Alex Wind, a student at Stoneman Douglas High School.

“This is us making a point and voicing out our opinions,” added Arizarry of the walk.

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