Local schools show their support for Parkland

In the wake of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting, schools across the country felt compelled to take a stand and Shoshone County’s three high schools were no different.

While the concepts around each “Walkout” differed from location to location, with some schools feeling the need to protest current gun laws, some deciding it was a day to try and defend their interpretation of their Constitutional Rights, some deciding that they would take the time to mourn the loss of the 17 students who died, and other deciding to use the day as a way to get students to talk about school safety and security.

The ultimate goal of these protests were to hopefully eliminate school shootings from happening.

None of them were wrong.

At Kellogg High School, students chose to make 17 posters to honor each student killed in this tragedy and then at 10 a.m., the students were given time to go around and sign the posters. Students were also allowed to walkout and stand outside and show their support as well.

The signed posters will be sent to Florida to let Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School know that KHS students were thinking of them all the way from Idaho.

At Wallace Jr./Sr. High School, students also went the route of signing a poster in support of the victims and their families, but also had a contingent of students walkout in hopes of spreading the message “be kind to one another.”

Mullan High School also used the day to honor the victims, both in support of the protests and also by putting on their creative caps to figure out ways for them to get better.

MHS principal Don Kotschevar saw where his students wanted to be involved, but weren’t quite getting there on their own.

He instead stepped up and organized an event that used recent real-life events in Mullan to maximize his student’s efforts.

“There seemed to be an unorganized effort to walkout and the students planning to walkout didn't really even know or understand the purpose of a walkout,” Kotschevar said. “I put together what I would call an organized walkout where all students were dismissed and escorted to the pavilion. Once we got there, we had an assembly that talked about the purpose of the walkout (to bring attention to gun violence at schools). We also discussed the recent lock down we did regarding the abduction incident on I-90 and things we did well and things we could do better.” The students were then divided by class and were given an assignment to discuss within their groups and write down on posters 17 ways to make Mullan School District safer. “The student discussions were very serious and thought provoking,” Kotschevar said. “Many of their ideas will be incorporated into our emergency plan. These ideas were then discussed by the entire group and we returned to class.”

With all three schools addressing this serious issue, it appears that civic involvement is alive and well in the youth of Shoshone County.