At a time when stragglers normally rush to first period, Charlottesville High School students vacated their classrooms. Hundreds poured into the hallways as if 9 a.m. marked the end of the school day instead of the beginning. Despite disapproval from teachers, dozens of students decided to make a statement against the war in Iraq by participating in a student-organized walk-out.
"We [start the day with] CHS News Live, the minute of silence and the pledge of allegiance," senior Amber Westphal said. "And it was passed around by word of mouth that after that, just get up and leave and meet out at the upper field. So basically, after the announcements were done, everybody who was coming emptied out into the hallways and walked over."
Since no public announcements were made within the school, some students said they were skeptical about the walk-out's success.Freshman Ashley Harris, however, joined the crowd after she realized that the walk-out had materialized.
"I didn't think anyone was going to come out, but when I saw people in the hallway, I decided to come too," Harris said.
Students exited from all doors and marched toward a gathering crowd on the upper field in front of the school. Some wore shirts expressing their disgust with the war and others carried posters with anti-war slogans.
Among the messages were: "Resist the ever growing logic of the empire. War is not a video game. Save our children. Save Iraqi children. Honk for peace."
Before beginning the march to City Hall on the Downtown Mall, several students on the field gathered around a large yellow bed sheet to sign their names and write messages against the war.
"This weekend I took a yellow bed sheet, yellow being the color of peace, and, with acrylic paint and hand prints, turned it into a peace symbol," Westphal said. "Then I had people who were organized on the grounds today, before they went on the walkout downtown, sign their names and write messages."
The sheet will be sent to a state representative or senator as a form of protest, Westphal said, adding that students in her government class will vote on who should receive the sheet. "It is a little more permanent than just a letter," she said.
Shortly after gathering and signing the sheet, students began chanting and marching down the sidewalk towards the Downtown Mall. Some students and faculty looked on from a side entrance to the school.
"What do you want? Peace! When do you want it? Now!" The shouts grew fainter as the protesters made their way farther down Melbourne Road.
While most students joined the march, Westphal decided to stay behind. "I am not clear enough in my own beliefs," she said. "I need to know what I am going to protest if I am going to protest something."
Westphal said she is confused about the current situation in Iraq. "War is a terrible thing," she said. "That is the general belief in my family. But whether the reasons are justified or not, sometimes it is necessary."
Westphal's father is a career military officer in the Navy, and a lot of his colleagues and friends are in the Persian Gulf right now.
"We are sending letters and cookies and little things,[such as] soap, that they don't really have there," she said.
Though it is unlikely that her dad will be ca;;ed into service since he is working toward his Ph.D. at the University, he still is committed to the military. "For my dad, it's his job, and so even though he may not agree with the decisions of the administration, if he gets called, it's what he's going to do," Westphal said.
Harris, on the other hand, is staunchly against the war and participated in the march to City Hall. "I feel that we shouldn't even have ever went to war," she said.
Harris said she wants to send a message to Bush because he shouldn't have sent Americans to war, and she hopes that the war ends quickly. "Everybody should just give up and go on," she said.
Harris said she watches the news every day, reads news articles and discusses the war with her parents. Westphal watches the news on television, and also stays updated through discussions in her government class.
"It is a topic of discussion," Westphal said. "We've postponed tests in government class just because we've gotten into huge discussions about the war. When you think that it's settling down, then something else happens and so we have a whole other discussion about a completely different topic."
Although Charlottesville High School teachers encourage discussion of issues surrounding the war, the administration did not condone the student walk-out. Associate Principal Kenneth Leatherwood said the administration had heard rumors of a walk-out but knew nothing concrete.The walk-out was fully student-organized, he said.
"We are an educational institution and we must remain neutral in situations like that," Leatherwood said. "Of course we were concerned about the students walking out, and there are consequences for walking out."
Students who walked out will receive an unexcused absence and detention may be given out, he said.
Administrators and teachers, however, were more concerned about what was going on inside the school, since only a fraction of the entire student body walked out, Leatherwood said.
To justify the decision to leave school in protest, Westphal cited the Code of Virginia's student services policy regarding the right of spontaneous assembly. "There is a statute that says we are allowed to have spontaneous gatherings to express our opinions," she said. "So they can't stop us from doing it."
And teachers, administrators and police did not stop them. They walked out and marched on to show that high school students can have a voice too. "I know for a lot of people, they want to protest the war," Westphal said. "They want peace."
Read More
Holding onto every grain in the hourglass
By Mai Hukuoka | 2 hours agoNow that I’m back at school, I have made it my mission to take note of the sneaky passage of time.
Students brave the cold for a whirlwind sorority rush
By Mia Tan | 2 days agoStudents recount a mix of emotions from rush, with some disappointed after dropping from the recruitment process and others ecstatic to join Greek life.
Top 10 ways to avoid burnout this semester
By Sam Saks | 3 days agoAs you settle into this semester, try implementing these 10 tactics to take care of yourself and wave goodbye to burnout.
