September 17, 2025, on a Wednesday afternoon, a walkout was held across SVVSD to protest gun violence, as result of the Evergreen High School shooting in Jefferson County, Colorado. Around 1:30 p.m., students stormed out of classrooms and collectively gathered outside schools to advocate for the students at Evergreen who can’t use their voice to defend themselves.
At 12:24 p.m., a JCSO deputy was dispatched after various 911 calls were phoned reporting an active shooter in the school building. Following the event, it was reported that two students were seriously wounded. The shooter Desmond Holly took his own life after causing mass devastation to the community.
Photos, articles, and posts were immediately plastered all over social media, stating the events that occurred; along with posts about it being ignored, yet, said posts did not tell the story, nor did they give grace to the everlasting impact the shooting had on the community and communities alike.
Announcements posted over a variety of social media platforms shared students’ concern and passion for advocacy against gun violence. Around 25 students gathered in Mead’s courtyard to express their support for victims and their concerns with gun accessibility and mental health in America.
Some came to discuss their issues with gun violence and their solutions, while others came to get out of class. Maddy Warren (‘26) is extremely passionate about the topic on gun violence and decided to join the walk out after seeing it on social media. Warren discussed her frustrations with the accessibility to firearms, and she wants to be a voice for people that can no longer be their own voice. “I’m advocating for the students that weren’t here to advocate for themselves.”
Many shared this idea, and some students were simply there to advocate for their own safety. “I don’t want to have to even worry…I actively thought about this in class, [school shootings] might actually happen,” said Adrianne Hughes (‘27).
In 2015 there were a total of 41 school shootings, and currently, this year, that number has almost quadrupled to 165 in total. School shootings have become increasingly more common, and have grown as a fear of many students.
The walkout, despite all the advertisements on social media, had very little numbers of participants. Most students who didn’t attended state that they just never knew it was happening in the first place. One student, Alana Costello (‘25), commented that: “If I’m being honest, one of [the reasons] is because I found out it was happening 15 minutes ago.”
Another student, Adrian Eyes (‘29) added “I did not hear about the walkout. I just heard about it from [Belly Vue (‘28)] just a couple of minutes ago.”
Many also shared their personal opinions on gun violence in general—and surprisingly their answers shared striking similarities with students who actually participated in the walkout. Holly McMillian (‘28), a non participant, stated “[I] think it’s hard to put restrictions on guns, because it’s a right, and I feel like people should have the feeling they can protect themselves. But I also feel like there’s a lot of people that have guns when maybe they shouldn’t, because of mental health or maybe because they’re just not a responsible person.” She also added, “when people are purchasing a gun, they need to go through a more rigorous process, or just when you [have guns], just keep them safe,” sharing the same beliefs as others who participated in the walkout.
Few students shared their plans to run a more organized walkout, not for just the district, but specifically for the students at Mead High School, giving the opportunity for students that didn’t originally participate a chance to voice their opinions and support the movement.
