'We are going to bring about this change': High school students walk out of school to bring attention to gun violence

WAUWATOSA - Hundreds of high school students from across the greater Milwaukee area walked out of their schools Friday to protest gun violence in the wake of multiple shootings and threats in Wisconsin schools in recent weeks. 

A walkout and march at Wauwatosa West High School, where students first brought attention to the idea, included about 150 students Friday morning. The walkout was planned the day after students learned about the Dec. 2 officer-involved shooting at Waukesha South High School. 

“The guns are the problem,” said Keeler Hick, a Wauwatosa West sophomore. “If we want to feel safe about a place we’re legally required to go to every day, something has to be done by the government to make sure we feel safe.”

Students walked out of at least 12 area high schools, including Wauwatosa East and West, Shorewood, Whitefish Bay, Milwaukee High School of the Arts, Milwaukee School of Languages, Pius XI, Rufus King, Vincent, Ronald Reagan, Carmen South and Escuela Verde. 

Walkouts that were planned at St. Anthony and Cudahy high schools were canceled, according to students at those schools. 

Students at Wauwatosa West spoke of bringing about state and federal changes, including tougher regulations on who can legally purchase a gun, strengthening background checks and more resources for mental health care. 

The students marched throughout Wauwatosa for around 45 minutes, chanting “No more silence, end gun violence,” and “Hey, hey, NRA, how many kids have you killed today.” They then gathered on their football field, where multiple speakers from the school spoke. 

“(Lawmakers are) going to try and tell us that we’re small, that our voice doesn't matter, that we don’t know what we’re talking about, but the reality is that they’re scared as hell, and they know that we are the ones that are going to bring about this change,” Michael Orlowski, who helped organize the walkout, said to a group of students outside the school.

Anyiah Chambers, a senior at West, said gun reform is "close and dear" to her. 

"I'm out here because enough is enough. Students should not have to fear going to school," she said. 

Organizers drew inspiration from a civics education class a majority were in together last year. 

“By studying these concepts we understand what it takes to be an engaged citizen and to understand the difference that we can make,” said Riley McAdams, a West senior. “It’s really evident to us that things like this can make a difference, and we know what we want and how we want to do it.”

Wauwatosa West was the scene of a shooting in 1993 when a 21-year-old former student shot and killed associate principal Dale Breitlow. The 26th anniversary of that shooting was Dec. 1. 

Students from area high schools also participated in a nationwide walkout in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in March of 2018. 

Wauwatosa West students had to have permission slips signed by their parents to walk out of school.

Shorewood High School

At Shorewood High School, the students were united on the issue of gun violence, but had mixed emotions about the walkout.

About 30 students turned out for the walkout, where poems were read and students spoke out against gun violence. One student said her brother didn't survive cancer "just to be shot up in a school."

Ananda Bluhm, 16, helped organize the event at the school, where last month police said a student created a hit list and brought a loaded magazine to school.

Bluhm said she has lost people she knows to gun violence and is frustrated by the lack of governmental action on the issue.

"Gun violence should not be a partisan issue because students are dying," she said.

Several of the students were concerned about the playful tone the Shorewood walkout took at times. In the future, they said, they want more preparation and more serious demeanors.

The students, however, recognize they are pieces of a bigger puzzle.

"It's going to take more than chants," one of the students acknowledged.

For Bluhm, it’s an issue she has always been passionate about, in particular because she is worried about her younger sisters. Bluhm carried a sign that read, “The only thing I should be afraid of at school is my grades.”

“The fact that I might not be able to see them again because of something that could happen at their school or not be able to go home because of something that could happen here is just sickening and just terrifying,” Bluhm said about why she participated in the walkout.

Students Lillian Hoffman and Emily Powless said they participated because they want to feel safe going to school, especially after the incident at their school.

“The government would be acting different if they were the ones coming to school every day worried that ‘I might not go home today’ or ‘what if this is the last time I see my sister?’ ” said Hoffman.

Hoffman said because the issue doesn’t personally affect legislators, those in government are not paying attention.

“How many kids have to die for the government to pay attention to it? What is it going to take to get you to protect us?” Hoffman said.

Cudahy High School

When Cudahy High School freshman student Isabelle Gonzalez tried to ask her school’s principal, Christopher Haeger, about supporting a student walkout on Dec. 12, he had said no, she said.

However, Gonzalez said in a phone interview Friday afternoon that other students decided to walk out anyway, as they felt that opportunity shouldn’t have been taken away from them since they didn’t feel safe in school.

She said that teachers and school security guards had heard about it, and they went to guard every door after they had heard about the students’ attempt to walk out.

“Basically they were just going through the school seeing if any kids were walking out. Eight of us students walked out the front building, but when other kids tried to come, they threatened them, saying that they were going to suspend them if they walked out and if they participate in the walkout. They walked kids to class,” Gonzalez said.  

Gonzalez and the other seven students who walked out of the building at 10 a.m. stood outside for 40 minutes. She said they were talking about how it wasn’t fair that the school stopped them from doing something they believed in and that they didn’t get enough support. Total, she said a total of 30 to 35 students wanted to participate in her school’s walkout.

“It was just really crazy how they did not support our situation,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said she was encouraged by the efforts of students at schools across the area today.

“It was very heartwarming knowing that other students feel this way and that we should make a move in this,” she said.

Haeger had no comment about the situation.

Evan Casey can be reached at  414-403-4391 or evan.casey@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @ecaseymedia.