Over 200 North students participated in a national school walkout on March 14th to stand in solidarity of the victims of the Parkland school shooting that occurred a month before, but not everyone did.

The walkout lasted for 17 minutes, one minute for every victim of the Parkland shooting. The purpose of the walk out was to stand in solidarity with the victims, bring awareness to school shootings and to advocate for gun control. Many agreed with the point of the march but not everyone did. “I thought the protest was pointless, I don’t think it really proved a point,” Caleb Woodson said. “I do think we can get more safety at our schools but as far as taking the gun away, that won’t solve the problem.”

While many students believed in the purpose of the walkout they couldn’t walkout because their parents didn’t let them. “My mom said if I ever did something like that I wouldn’t live to see 20,” Alison Poe said. Other students didn’t participate because they feared of getting in trouble with their coaches. “I wanted to walk out but I didn’t want to get in trouble for softball,” Megan Fleming said.