Students hold up signs as hundreds of high school students at Wilson High School take part in National Walkout Day in Long Beach Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (Photo by Thomas R. Cordova / Daily Breeze)

Fremont Elementary School students finish up their signs before taking part in the National Walkout Day in Long Beach on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. Most of the 550 students stayed in school while the others stood on the sidewalk in front of the school with signs to protest gun violence. (Photo by Scott Varley, Contributing Photographer)

After being checked out of school by their parents, several dozen students at Fremont Elementary School take part in the National Walkout Day in Long Beach on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. Most of the 550 students stayed in school while the others stood on the sidewalk in front of the school with signs to protest gun violence. (Photo by Scott Varley, Contributing Photographer)

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After being checked out of school by their parents, several dozen students at Fremont Elementary School take part in the National Walkout Day in Long Beach on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. Most of the 550 students stayed in school while the others stood on the sidewalk in front of the school with signs to protest gun violence. (Photo by Scott Varley, Contributing Photographer)

Students gather around Isaiah Walker as he speaks out and express his concerns after an assembly as hundreds of high school students at Wilson High School take part in National Walkout Day in Long Beach Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (Photo by Thomas R. Cordova / Daily Breeze)



Freshman Class President Michael Ndubisi speaks as hundreds of high school students at Wilson High School take part in National Walkout Day in Long Beach Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (Photo by Thomas R. Cordova / Daily Breeze)

Students leaders speak as hundreds of high school students at Wilson High School take part in National Walkout Day in Long Beach Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (Photo by Thomas R. Cordova / Daily Breeze)

Students line up at Millikan High School for walkout in support of stronger gun control laws (Chris Haire/Press-Telegram)

Students give a moment of silence to honor the 17 students killed in Parkland as hundreds of high school students at Wilson High School take part in National Walkout Day in Long Beach Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (Photo by Thomas R. Cordova / Daily Breeze)

Students hold up signs as hundreds of high school students at Wilson High School take part in National Walkout Day in Long Beach Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (Photo by Thomas R. Cordova / Daily Breeze)



After being checked out of school by their parents, several dozen students at Fremont Elementary School take part in the National Walkout Day in Long Beach on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. Most of the 550 students stayed in school while the others stood on the sidewalk in front of the school with signs to protest gun violence. (Photo by Scott Varley, Contributing Photographer)

Students give a moment of silence to honor the 17 students killed in Parkland as hundreds of high school students at Wilson High School take part in National Walkout Day in Long Beach Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (Photo by Thomas R. Cordova / Daily Breeze)

For 17 minutes, there was silence.

The only sound, the names of the dead: Nicholas Dworet, 17; Alyssa Alhadeff, 14.

The list went on: Scott Beigel, 35; Aaron Feis, 37. At Millikan High, some 2,000 students stood around the football field and listened. Some cried. A few hugged one another. All were quiet.

But beneath the calm, they were seething.

And they weren’t alone. Thousands of students at more than a dozen Long Beach schools held demonstrations Wednesday – as part of a national walkout honoring the victims of last month’s shooting in Parkland, Florida – to advocate for tougher gun laws, urge leaders to make them feel safe again, and decry a scourge of violence perpetrated, the students argued, by weapons of war.

“We can fight for our rights,” said Kate Brown, a freshman at Millikan. “If our leaders won’t listen to us, who will they listen to? We are the future.”

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Aiyanna Jones, a 16-year-old junior at Poly High, began planning the demonstration there three weeks ago.

Jones had been in student government before, and worked to improve her campus. But after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, things changed. She saw the student survivors speak up. She knew she had to do more.

“They are inspiring,” Jones said.

Just as her planning got underway, though, a rumor spread about a threat to her school. The threat could not be substantiated, police said. But there was another threat, this time at Millikan. Then, another. And another.

In all, there were six threats or rumors of threats at Long Beach schools in two weeks, leading to four arrests.

“It forced my peers and me to see that Poly could be the scene of the next tragedy if something isn’t done,” Jones said. “It was scary, but my fear was very quickly replaced by anger and passion.”

Participants at three separate school demonstrations said the frenzy caused by the threats boosted enthusiasm for the rallies.

“They made it real,” said Rebecca Gutierrez, a Poly senior, who spent Wednesday pre-registering her peers to vote. “I didn’t go to school that day, because my parents were so scared.”

But the planning went on.

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“Stay calm, son,” said Rick Bayliss.

He put a hand on his 16-year-old’s shoulder. Blake Bayliss, standing on Millikan’s football field, tried to catch his breath. He answered questions from fellow organizers while gasping.

“I’m excited,” the junior said.

Then, shortly before 10 a.m., his classmates, in waves of hundreds, began filling the field. They stood around the track and linked arms, as a soundtrack of inspirational tunes played over the loudspeakers.

“It’s disappointing we have to do this,” said freshman Camille Larsen, 14, as the last of her peers filled in the gaps around the track. “The adults should have already made it harder to buy guns.”

As Larsen spoke, the music faded. The chit-chat on the field died. And the organizers asked for a moment of silence.

The music crescendoed again, with John Lennon’s “Imagine” memorializing the Parkland victims: Martin Duque Anguiano, 14; Jamie Guttenberg, 14.

At Lakewood High, 10 miles north of Millikan, a bell tolled with each name: Luke Hoyer, 15; Cara Loughran, 14.

Students at Poly recited a poem for every victim: Gina Montalto, 14; Joaquin Oliver, 17.

Jordan and Wilson high schools also read the names of those killed in February: Helena Ramsay, 17; Alex Schachter, 14.

The children at Fremont Elementary were too young to know the details of Parkland, said parent Jill Parker, who has a first-grader and third-grader there. So instead, the children – with parents, grandparents, neighbors and former teachers – held hands outside the school. They remained there for 17 minutes.

For the adults, Parkland was near their minds: Alaina Petty, 14; Meadow Pollack, 18.

“This is not something we are immune from,” Parker said. “It’s terrifying.”

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But Wednesday was not only a vigil. It was also a call to action.

The high schools had tables set up so students could write letters to politicians – as well as to the Parkland survivors – or pre-register to vote.

There were speeches advocating for continued political engagement – and blaming those currently in office for not passing gun control legislation.

At Poly, where about 3,000 students demonstrated, organizers are planning a new campus club on civic engagement and a monthly letter-writing campaign.

“We need universal background checks,” said Eli Howe, 17, a junior at Millikan. “And assault rifles should be banned. They are weapons of war, not defense.”

Eventually, their 17 minutes were up. School staff, keeping watch on the students, herded them back to class.

At Millikan, the music shut off again. The chatter among friends resumed. And most walked off the field.

But some lingered. They wrote on heart-shaped cards to be sent to Parkland. They climbed the bleachers to hug organizers.

Others just weren’t ready to leave.

Piper Hammond and Rachel Moreno, both 16, were two of those. They and a few other girls embraced in a group hug.

“It’s really sad to me,” Moreno said, “that all those people had to go through something like that.”

Moreno tried – and failed – to stop crying for those who died: Chris Hixon, 49;

Carmen Schentrup, 16;

Peter Wang, 15.

“Hopefully,” Moreno said, “we can accomplish something.”

And with that, she walked off the field.