‘We just want change’: Thousands of students walk out of classes across Santa Cruz County

SANTA CRUZ >> Seventeen white balloons rose into the air above Highway 1 on Wednesday morning — one for each life lost in the Parkland, Florida, shooting.

Below, hundreds of Harbor High School students crowded the La Fonda overpass after leaving their classes as part of a protest that reportedly drew participation from students from thousands of schools nationwide, making it reportedly the largest protest of its kind in American history.

Hundreds more students poured out in front of Santa Cruz High to listen to speeches and rally in solidarity with school shooting victims.

"We all stood up — the whole class came with us," said Santa Cruz High senior Ollie Jackson, who helped organize the walkout at her school. "We started some chants that we had prepared, ‘Enough is enough,' and ‘Gun control now,' then we walked from the third floor all the way out to the front and there were just streams of people coming from both directions."

In Watsonville, more than 1,000 students packed the sidewalk in front of Watsonville High School, forming a line covering the block, and students at a number of other area schools reportedly walked out of their classes to join in on protests and rallies.

The students called on Congress to tighten restrictions on the ownership and possession of firearms, particularly assault-style weapons such as the AR-15, a sleek, black rifle that was used to slaughter students in Parkland as well as Sandy Hook.

"We just want change," said Watsonville High junior Alexandra Lopez, who carried a sign with the name of the one of the victims of the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. "Us as students come to school every single day. Even though it happened across the country, it can happen anywhere, anytime, at any school."

School administrators had told the Sentinel they were aware of students planning to join the protest, but participation appeared to exceed expectations — including of many student organizers themselves.

"We were expecting maybe 115 students to show and this went way beyond that," said Watsonville High School junior Sophia Elizalde, who organized the protest with a small group of juniors and seniors.

Harbor High School junior Sally Loutfi said it was "heartwarming" to walkout to the Highway 1 overpass in solidarity with hundreds of her classmates.

"There were just so many people out on that bridge, and it's a rainy day, it's cold outside, and to see everyone coming out — there were a ton of cars below us, and people were honking to support it," she said.

Loutfi described the crowd counting down before releasing the 17 white balloons in memory of the Parkland victims.

"It was just quiet, and you just watched them go up," she said. "It was really nice. You could feel it — that it was something really sweet."

Jackson, the Santa Cruz High senior, said herself and her classmates are advocating for extending the waiting period to purchase firearms, restricting access to AR-15s and comparable rifles, and restricting access to firearms for young adults — who are able to purchase rifles and shotguns at age 18 according to federal law, and handguns at age 21.

"For me I felt that it's something that we shouldn't even have to have a discussion about," Loutfi said. "Students in school shouldn't have to be afraid that someone could come in and kill us."

Fellow Santa Cruz High senior Malachi Maldonado said that what he most appreciated about the Wednesday morning walkout was the solidarity he saw between students.

"I know I have different ideas than other people. I want more gun control, some people might want mental health reform," Maldonado said. "We might not necessarily agree on those things but what's important is that we're all acting to change it, because no one can argue that there is this plague of mass violence in our country and something needs to be done."

Volunteers had been scheduled to register students to vote at 14 high school campuses in the county, as well as Cabrillo College. By noon, the volunteers at Santa Cruz High had registered more than 50 students to be ready to vote when they turn 18, according to volunteer Robin Searles. By early afternoon Wednesday, volunteers at Harbor High had reportedly registered more than 100 students.

On Capitol Hill, Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel, told the House of Representatives on Wednesday that its gun control efforts did not go far enough and called for patching the background check system and banning bump stocks.

"We all appreciate the emotion and passion by the high school students across our country but we realize, as they do, that thoughts and prayers only go so far," Panetta. "So now it is up to congress to govern, not just by crisis but actually by leadership, to make our schools, our communities and our countries safer."