Fairbanks high school students will walk out of classes on Friday afternoon in a local observance of a nationwide event to mourn gun-violence victims and to call for changes in the nation’s gun laws and policies. The Gun Control Walkout is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. at all three high schools in Fairbanks.
Amanda Frantz is a West Valley High School student who’s organizing her school’s walkout. She says students from West Valley will walk to Hutchison High School/ Career Center, where she and other organizers will talk about the issue.
“We’re going to walk out and walk over to Hutch at 1:30, so then we’ll all be in the parking lot,” Frantz said. “ And in the time between 1:30 and 2:15, we’re going to have speeches, where I will be speaking and Haley will be speaking and a few others.”
Frantz says students from Lathrop also will stage their own walkout.
The event was scheduled for April 20th because it’s the anniversary of the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado, when two students killed 13 others before shooting themselves to death.
Organizers say the Walkout also is also being held in solidarity with ongoing efforts by students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida to compel state and national leaders to enact legislation and policies to reduce gun violence.
