EHS students walk out to pay silent respects to murdered teens

More than 100 Eatonville High School students stood in silence on March 14 as they paid their respects to the students and faculty murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on Feb. 14.

They stood in silence for 17 minutes, one minute for each life lost. At every minute, the organizers rang a bell and read out the name of another victim.
Petra Cole, an Eatonville senior, organized the demonstration, related to a national student walkout on Wednesday morning.

“It was not about politics, it was not about guns,” Cole said. “It was about remembering the 17 killed at the high school.”

Cole, who plans to attend Washington State University next year, said she was inspired to do something after witnessing multiple instances of gun violence in schools this year.

Nearby Graham-Kapowsin High School was the location of a drive-by shooting in December which wounded two students.

John Paul Colgan, principal of Eatonville High School, said Cole came to him to discuss how to hold the demonstration.

“She came, really respectfully, and asked how she could hold it constructively,” he said. “We had about 110 students come out and demonstrate in silence. What I really appreciate is that [Cole] didn’t waver. She stuck to her vision of the event.”

Parents, family members and a few faculty on prep periods also turned out to the event. Students involved left second period and returned to that same period just 20 minutes later. Participating students were not given tardies or absences, Colgan said.

“This was entirely student-led,” Cole said. “There was a group of six or seven kids who had meetings and discussed it with me.”

Part of planning the event was making sure it was respectful to the memory of the victims and entirely voluntary.

“I was bothered by some negativity online,” Cole said. “On a Facebook page there were some adults just talking to hear themselves talk. Being really disrespectful and not there to listen or communicate.”

Colton Cornish, another Eatonville student, made a flier for the event and wrote his account of the preparations. He said that in spite of the negative reaction from some people, it was a meaningful demonstration.

“Even now, many students are continuing to work on ways in which they can continue to work on making this school, this community, and even this world a better place,” Cornish wrote. “Thanks to this experience I have never been more proud to be part of this high school.”

After the Florida shooting, students from Stoneman Douglas High School have made national headlines by becoming involved in demonstrations and gun-control movements, earning them both praise and ire.

James Lynch, communications manager for the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office, wrote a release addressing a school safety forum held at Eatonville High School. The 150 in attendance, mostly parents, were given advice on how to prepare their children in the case of a school shooting.
Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist spoke at the event and attempted to reassure parents.

“Nothing is more important than the safety of our schools and the safety of our children,” he said.

Deputy Prosecutor Kevin Benton also clarified the office’s policy toward threats at schools.

“If a threat is made, it will be taken seriously,” Benton said.

Lindquist and his office also unveiled a new undertaking. The plan is to speak to every junior high, middle and high school in the county about school violence. The presentations will also include information about bullying.

Lindquist, along with some of his deputy prosecutors will deliver the presentations.

Two more national demonstrations related to the aftermath of the Stoneman Douglas shooting are planned. Cole said she plans on being involved with those as well.