Student walkouts spread across state

At Farrington High School in Kalihi, students carefully cut out 17 images of hibiscus that they had printed, each with a different name cradled in the center, in preparation for today’s National School Walkout.

The names are the students and staff members shot dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in a barrage of gunfire that has ignited a national youth movement.

Thousands of students at campuses across Hawaii intend to walk out of their classrooms today at 10 a.m. along with their peers nationwide. The 17-minute walkouts are a tribute to the victims as well as a rallying cry for an end to the violence.

The movement is organic, popping up at schools large and small, public and private. Pulling it together are hashtags like #Enough and #NeverAgain, as social media reach across the miles and build common cause.

“We were actually devastated because these students were the same age as us,” said Franchesca Amor Aguilar, Farrington’s student body president. “Knowing that it could happen to anybody, especially our own high school, we wanted to do something about it.”

Farrington’s mascot is the Governors, and students planning their walkout at first chose the hashtag #GovsAgainstGuns as their motto. But after more research and talking it over, they shifted to a broader, more inclusive message: #Govs4SafeSchools.

“Our main focus is for safer schools, and it is an umbrella that upholds so many other things,” Aguilar said. “We can do so much more with it.”

The hibiscus are just a small part of the events planned at Farrington today, including a speech by Aguilar, 17 seconds of silence and the singing of “Amazing Grace.” The flowers will decorate an oversize banner — a “Wall of Aloha” — where students can pen their thoughts for their colleagues across the country.

“The purpose is to write meaningful and loving messages to students and faculty,” said Richie Galutira, 18. “After the day is done, tomorrow, we’re going to laminate it and send it out to them.”

The hibiscus are maroon, the school color for both Farrington and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High.

Another floral tribute should arrive in Parkland today, sent by students at Mid-Pacific Institute in Manoa. Ninth-graders Primo Lagaso Goldberg and Maddie Au spearheaded a drive to send 17 orchid lei along with heartfelt letters in English and Hawaiian.

“We thought it would be nice to send a piece of our culture and a symbol of our aloha, and what better symbol than a lei?” Goldberg said Tuesday.

During Mid-Pacific’s walkout, 17 students including Goldberg will sprawl on the ground on the hillside near the Atherton Building for 17 minutes while organizers make short speeches.

Other schools with walkouts in the works include Punahou, Kaiser High, Mili­lani High, Moanalua High, Kapolei High, Campbell High, Le Jardin Academy, St. Andrew’s Schools, St. Francis School and University Laboratory School as well as schools on Maui and Hawaii Island.

At Kaiser High, students have planned a rally in the stadium. In a letter to parents, Principal Justin Mew said their focus is on standing in solidarity with the survivors and the nationwide Never Again movement, educating students about the issue and encouraging their peers to register to vote.

The walkouts are voluntary, and students must remain on campus in designated areas or risk unexcused absences. Administrators say they are making the time and the space available to allow students to make their views known on a subject they are passionate about, and to give them a chance to educate each other.

“It’s not just student leaders,” said Theresa Schubert, student activities coordinator at Farrington, who has watched the planning unfold. “We have athletes, we have freshmen, we have students who hold titles, we have students with no titles at all. But they all came together after they saw things on social media that moved them.”

She marveled at their commitment and organization, pointing to a multicolored graphic the teens had put together. It covered everything from the tribute, to oli, to digital and social media, lei draping, banners, PSAs, the program, even a safety plan and weather contingency.

“It was amazing to watch them go from being emotionally vested to letting logic take over,” she said. “I’m very proud of them.”