“Let’s have 17 minutes of silence to remember the 17 students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. One minute for each student that was killed in the shooting a month ago.” said Victoria Tenpenny, Student Council Representative, to the group of 200 students who participated in the National Walk Out Day. “Today is a day to give our thoughts and prayers to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas students and their families.”

In solidarity and respectful solace, Page High School students silently walked out of class and went to the school courtyard. They quietly and gently gathered together, then without a word or signal, started towards the middle of campus and stood next to a student that they didn’t know. While linking each other’s hands they began to form a large circle.

While students from Page High School were walking into their courtyard, students from all of Page’s schools did their own walkouts.

Tenpenny walked to the middle of the circle and addressed her fellow students telling them the real reason for the walk out was to honor and remember the students who were killed during the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High.  The walkout was also about respect and being safe, together, she said.

 With those memorable 17 minutes, Page High upheld the respect and honor for the children of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in a peaceful and silent protest of Florida’s devastating loss.

Before the national walk out movement was to happen across the country the thought on everybody’s mind in Page was, “Are the kids going to do a walk out all day?’ or ‘Are they going to protest the gun laws?’

The students answered those questions with a resounding, gentle, yet powerful message about shedding indifference and embracing love for the people in their community with those 17 minutes of silence. The bar of honor, respect, humbleness and humility has been re-set by all the Page Unified School District students as they became models for change through showing the community that more can be said in silence than with violence.  

To help keep the peace, the school district asked the Page Police Dept. and Coconino County Sheriff’s Dept. to attend the walk-out to oversee the safety of the students.

Teachers who had students participating gathered on the outer edge of the circle to also pay their respects.

Superintendent for Page Unified School District, Rob Varner also supported his students’ silent protest.

“As Superintendent I will always support our student’s freedom of speech and freedom of expression. I am proud of the High School Administration, staff, and students in organizing a peaceful protest. I am super proud of the kids protesting peacefully and working with the Administration.”

Tenpenny was given the task of arranging the walk-out for the student body.

“We had been watching CNN Student News in Government class and heard about [the walk-out]. Principle Martin asked us if we had planned on doing a walk-out and what it would look like. So we presented a [scenario]. We asked the students who were going to attend to stand next to a person they didn’t know well.”

Which reflected the need for change with ‘cliques’ or excluding others.

“It was a silent protest to offer thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families. It went better than I had hoped. Everybody was super awesome.” Tenpenny adds that the student body’s respectful attitude amplified Page High’s success of the circle of prayer. Tenpenny also extended her gratitude on behalf of the Student Council for the community’s support.

Page High’s participation was to remind the nation it is not always about gun laws but it is also about caring. The students of Page High who participated in the walk out had elected to keep the politics out of the circle and use prayer for the victims to send a message of unity among the youth in the face of a crisis.

At the end of the 17 minutes the students silently returned to class.

All the schools in the Page Unified School District participated in the Walk Out Day protest, each observing the 17 minutes of silence and returning back to class. Those who witnessed the walk out at Page High considered it an honor to witness the youth, in silence, do what needed to be done to better the world. It was a spiritual moment for all who had never seen such power in a simple gesture.