By: Genelle Gogue
MHS students participated in a walkout concerning gun control on March 14, Walkout Coordinator Nisha Porchezhiyan said. The walkout was meant to help spark political and social activism at school, she said.
As an ambassador for March for Our Lives San Jose, one of her duties was to bring the walkout to her high school, Porchezhiyan said. Another one of the reasons she brought the walkout to MHS was to help give students a voice and be a part of something bigger than them, and there is a lack of activism at MHS, she said.
“I organized this walkout because I realized that there is a lack of activism living in this high school community,” Porchezhiyan said. “I just truly believe Trojans want something that they can be apart of, they want to be apart of something which is why we organized this so we can give them an opportunity to be apart of something.”
During the walkout, both proponents and opponents of gun control were allowed to speak to further educate students and let attendees understand that they must be willing to hear the views of others, Porchezhiyan said.
“We wanted everyone to be represented in Milpitas,” Porchezhiyan said. “We didn’t want to stop anyone and especially because we need to be tolerant of everyone’s views and we need to give everyone a platform to express their views.”
All communities affected by gun violence were able to speak at the walkout as well, Porchezhiyan said. People spoke out about how gun violence affects women, minorities, the LGBTQ community and others, she added.
“Gun violence affects every community and out speakers reflected that,” Porchezhiyan said. “Sean talked about the LGBTQ community, and Hannah talked about Islamophobia, Rohini and Loan-Anh talked about women.”
The walkout was an event that helped some feel like they could speak out on the topic of gun violence, Junior Lariah Helm said. Helm felt like she had to attend the walkout because gun violence is frequently in the news, and she wanted such activism could make a difference, she stated.
“We see gun violence everyday in the news and innocent lives are being taken away,” Helm said. “I want to take part in a change of our future and really have a voice. I wanted to actually stand by something I believe in and really help make a difference one step at a time.”
It is significant to be involved in civic engagement, Walkout Coordinator Sean Nguyen said. MHS has a diverse campus, and it is very important to stay educated politically, Nguyen said.
“There’s people coming from all different sorts of minorities and we each have a role in how our politics are played out,” Nguyen said. “It’s important that we remain educated and we’re consistent with how we’re thinking for ourselves and formulating some sort of foundation for ourselves in the future,” he added.
Both Nguyen and Porchezhiyan expressed satisfaction with the volume of attendees.
“Less than we hoped, but it was more than we feared,” Nguyen said. “It’s the same thing, quality over quantity. A school population that somewhat cares about to take the extra effort to come to the walkout: it’s more important than numbers.”
“I was happy,” Porchezhiyan said. “I was happy, like even if two students came aside from the speakers, I would’ve been happy. It means that at least there is someone here that cares about this issue and wants to come and cut class for it.”