MORROW, Ga. Instead of walking out of class, about 1,800 students at Clayton County's Morrow High walked in to a student-organized school-wide program.
It was their way of commemorating National Walkout Day, by honoring the lives of the 17 students and teachers killed one month ago in the Parkland, Florida school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
"It's an effective way to demonstrate that the high school in Parkland is not alone," said freshman Bianca Yanez.
"I respect the fact that my principal cares enough to make sure that we understand why this is going on today, rather than just the other students at the other schools they're just walking out, but a lot of them don't know why they're walking out," said senior class president LaTosha Harris.
Student leaders met with Principal Dr.Pamela Pitts to plan the program after feedback from the entire school community.
The focus of the program centered mostly on the lives lost in Florida, with Taps, a poem and a musical performance of "Amazing Grace," but some students organizers expressed their desire for a gun-free, violence-free campus for themselves and students across the country.
"It's so important because many people think that guns are cool and anything can be harmful to anybody," said freshman Jonathan Hillie. "We just want to bring gun awareness to everybody."
"I want everybody that's in my class to realize that school shootings are not a funny thing, it's really important because what if that was your friend," said Kathy Chiu, president of the junior class.
"Many students aren't aware of the fact that there are many students that are suffering in other places due to gun violence," said Junior Air Force ROTC member Vyvy Nguyen. "Some students are simply just viewing it as a media effect where they can dress in black and walk out or something, but this assembly actually gives them to know what is actually going on around them."
The program lasted began with a 17 second moment of silence and lasted about 17 minutes, the same amount of it would have taken for students to stage a walk-out protest.
Students then returned to class and continued on with the school day.
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