Students Walkout and Protest

On March 14th, 2018, Creighton Prep senior Dylan Ritter worked with the Omaha Student Union to organize a walkout in memory of the students who were killed in the February 14th shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL.

“What we are here to do is memorialize the victims of gun violence especially the victims in the most recent school shooting in Florida, but also to advocate common sense gun reform,” Ritter said.

The walkout took place at 10 a.m., when students left their classes and went outside through the Heider Center doors. They walked all the way to the overpass that crosses over 72nd Street. Some students even held signs saying “#ENOUGH.”

Prior to the event, Principal Jim Bopp sent an email out to parents stating their official stance on the walkout.

“The national school walkout is a student-initiated event that has not been officially sanctioned by Prep. However, in order to ensure the safety of students who decide to participate and to cause as little disruption to the school day as possible, the administration has been in conversation with student leaders about some basic parameters for this event that the student leaders have agreed to comply with:
1. Students will inform their teachers in advance of their intention to walk out.
2. Students will leave class at 10:00 a.m. and return to class no later than 10:30 a.m.
3. Students will congregate on the east side of the campus and observe 17 minutes of silence (one minute for each victim at Stoneman Douglas).
4. School staff and administration will be present to ensure safety and good order.”

An estimated 50 students participated in the walkout. Each one had to give up their demerit card before they left, resulting in a JUG (detention). This consequence was determined by the Dean’s office.

“The consequences were decided from the handbook under ‘unexcused absence’,” Dean of Students Joe Ryberg said.