CARMEL, Ind. (WISH) — Carmel High School allowed hundreds of students to walk into the school’s fieldhouse for a 17-minute, student-led demonstration Wednesday, but some kids weren’t satisfied with staying indoors.
At least three students walked out of the building for about 20 minutes. One freshman told a reporter that doing a walkout indoors would hide what happened to the Parkland, Florida, students on Feb. 14.
The school did not allow reporters in until after the fieldhouse walkout, but school leaders sent pictures and video to reporters.
“Today, we not only mourn their lives,” freshman Isabella Fallahi said through a megaphone. “But, we demand action so that none of us have to go to school fearing for our lives ever again.”
The school allowed students to attend only if they had a signed permission slip from a parent.
Fallahi and junior Sofia Balcius said they worked with school leaders to organize the event.
“You put yourself in the shoes of the families and the shoes of friends who lost loved ones,” Fallahi said.
Fallahi and Balcius said they wanted to mourn the victims and Fallahi said she wants to pressure lawmakers to act on gun control.
A school spokesperson said administrators called the parents of students who left the building and the students were “educated on the importance of school safety.”
“What we did inside was more effective, probably, than what they were doing outside. We got kids registered to vote. We got kids signed up to march at the March For Our Lives,” Fallahi said.
Students in the fieldhouse hoisted signs with letters spelling out “CHS says never again.”
The thousands of students who did not walk out continued their school day as planned.
The student organizers said one of their main focuses was safety when organizing the event.