WCSD students will protest gun violence in national school walkout Wednesday

Elizabeth Shepherd will risk her perfect attendance as a seventh-grader at Swope Middle School on Wednesday

Elizabeth, 12, will walk out of her English class at 10 a.m. for 17 minutes in a national school walkout to bring awareness to gun violence.

“It is important to show up for ourselves and take a stand,” said Elizabeth, who prides herself on an absence and tardy-free school year.

She left school early once this school year for a trip to the orthodontist.

“We can make a difference. We want it to be more difficult to get a gun," Elizabeth said. "This could save so many people's lives.”

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The national movement to walk out of school that Elizabeth and others plan to join is on the one-month anniversary of a mass shooting at a Florida high school that killed 17 people.

Organizers of the Enough National School Walkout have said those participating should walk out at 10 a.m. local time.

A similar event is planned on April 20, the 20-year anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting, where 13 were killed by two senior students at the high school in Colorado.

Students across the Washoe County School District are participating in walkouts, although the specific details about what is planned by students is hard to find.

Walkout events are planned at Wooster High School, Reno High School, Galena High School and Damonte Ranch High School, according to online registration boards set up by the organizers of both the Wednesday protest and the on the anniversary of Columbine.

The district has said it encouraged principals to plan approved events. Events approved by principals are planned at North Valleys and Reno High School.

At Wooster, students plan to walk out of their classes and meet at the front of the school. Students will then tie orange ribbons outside of the school and march to the post office on Vassar Street, where letters will be sent to U.S. Senator Dean Heller and U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei.

Wooster Student Body President Alex Trujillo said it is important to be part of this national conversation.

"I know rules are rules," he said of likely being marked absent or tardy for walking out on Wednesday. ""But we are passionate about this and I'm OK with getting in trouble."

In February the district said while it "understands and respects the emotional component and intent" of anti-gun student walkout events being organized nationwide, it will still mark students who participate absent or tardy.

The district said students are only given an approved absence for things such as illness or bereavement.

The district has said more severe punishments that are rumored to be happening at other schools across the state, including threats to suspend students, is not happening in Washoe County. School police officers have been told to only observe peaceful protests.

History teacher inspires activism

Elizabeth is one of more than a dozen students in Swope teacher Todd Bodensteiner’s history class who say they will walk out of school on Wednesday

“We all feel it is important to participate in it,” Elizabeth said.

Bodensteiner’s history classes aren’t typical, students say. Their teacher doesn’t just each them history, he applies it to current events.

His class wrote letters to bullied teens at a high school in Yerington earlier this school year. Students said it was a current event tied to lessons on the Civil Rights Movement.

After the shooting in Florida , the address for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School went up on the classroom board.

Lukas Porter, 12, wrote a letter.

"I think it's important to honor what they have been through," Porter said.

Students say their opinions shouldn't be discounted because they are young.

“The adults have this issue in their hands,” said Lindsey Wolterbeek, 12. “We have to be one the ones to help change this.”

"We are standing for other children that have been killed," said Kai Mulligan, 12.

And while the district has warned students and staff about the ramifications of participating in walkouts, Elizabeth and other students said this protest is about the lives of students.

“This is about life and death,” Bodensteiner said. “In history, people have been in trouble standing up for something they believe in.”

Organized events planned at high schools

The district said on Friday it wasn’t aware of many planned walkouts but it has encouraged principals to plan an approved event to memorialize the victims of the Florida shooting.

At North Valleys High School, students will honor those killed in the Florida school shooting just after 8 a.m.

“It has been a hot topic at school,” said North Valleys High Senior Johnson said. “No one was letting it go.”

Reno High Principal Kris Hackbusch sent a note to families Sunday about an alternative to planned walkouts.

*In regards to the news of a planned student walk-out on Wednesday, we have worked with student representatives to plan a location where students can write positive messages to the students of Stoneman Douglas High School," the email said. " We are looking into a banner or sign to provide students a chance to express themselves in a positive way during the 17 minute event. Information will be shared through the students via social media since this will be a student-generated event. We simply ask students who decide to participate to return to class as soon as they can.

At North Valleys Tyler said students worked with the principal to have an organized event.

The scheduled event happens during a study hall period for most students.

Johnson said students will release 17 balloons.

"I think it's about honoring those who were killed," Johnson said. "We want to be a part of that."