Under staff supervision, members of the Shore Regional student body took part in a few activities during the national commemoration for the victims of the recent Parkland school shooting and to call for immediate gun reform. On March 14, schools across the country participated in a national walkout day. United in equal efforts and political unanimity, many active students across the nation used the day to demand gun control and to end school massacres and violence. At Shore Regional, there too was this same call for change and action. The time of solidarity – from 10:00 AM to 10:17 AM, honoring the seventeen victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting – provided students with many different ways to express unity and call for change. With Shore Regional staff and the West Long Branch Police Department’s carefully monitoring, a group of students band together to walk out of the school for the seventeen minutes. Sophomore Saylor Whiteman recalls the moment as “hopeful“ and says, “all of what we are doing today – whether it’s walking out, writing letters to representatives, or calling Congress – is going to show the government and adults in charge that today’s kids aren’t going to stand for this anymore. I am glad we are doing things to change because school is to be a place of learning, not somewhere you should be concerned about your life or safety“. When asked to describe today’s events, Whiteman described it as “the tip of an iceberg”. Meanwhile, in the library, Senior Ellie George organized a group of students who reached out to state representatives by writing letters or calling in. “I think today was a meaningful tribute for the victims of gun violence. I think a valuable use of the seventeen minutes during this memorial was an effort to enact change in legislation that might have prevented these deaths in the first place“. In the main gym, students also gathered in silence to honor those slain in the Parkland shooting, as well as other school shootings that have occurred over the years.