Cobleskill-Richmondville students united with hundreds of thousands on Wednesday to memorialize those killed in the Parkland, Florida shootings a month ago.
About 100 high school students stepped out of class at 10am to stand around the flagpole, while middle school students gathered in Golding auditorium for a period of silence.
The March 14 vigils marked the one-month anniversary of 17 students and staff killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14.
Organizers Emily Benton, Sarah Jones and Dan Bailey stood in front of the C-R students and read the names of the slain. Then, braced against a biting, cold wind, all remained for 17 minutes––one for each of those killed––to honor the dead.
A State Police cruiser was on the scene, and the driveway to the high school was blocked off to traffic.
Emily thought the high school vigil went well and was surprised that almost one-fifth of the students participated.
“We didn’t think we’d get that many,” she said. “We handed out flyers beforehand, and five minutes later, a lot of them were on the floor. So we thought there would be just a few kids.”
Many held signs calling for stronger gun control––“Do we love our guns more than our kids” and “Protect students not guns”––but Emily said the vigil wasn’t intended to be political.
“But we didn’t want to tell them not to do that if they wanted to,” Emily said.
Superintendent Carl Mummenthey watched the vigil and said he was “proud the students took steps to have their voices heard.”
When the students returned inside, he added, they were met with a smaller group endorsing the Second Amendment and the right to have guns.
It was a peaceful exchange, Mr. Mummenthey said.
School board President Bruce Tryon applauded Mr. Mummenthey and the high school staff for the way they handled the vigil.
The school’s ‘nutrition break,’ for instance, was moved to the time of the vigil so that the walkout wouldn’t disrupt classes.
“Carl and the staff did a great job,” Mr. Tryon said. “It was a testament to his management skills that they rehearsed every scenario that could happen.”
Emily said many of the students will take part in the Rally for Our Lives, a similar observance, this Saturday in Centre Park, Cobleskill.
And they also plan to participate in another walkout-rally on April 20, the anniversary of the Columbine shootings.
“We felt this one was too close to a tragic event to be political,” she said. “We didn’t want to shove it in people’s faces.”
The April 20 event, Emily added, “will be more overtly political, especially on gun control.”

Other local schools holding their own walkouts included Sharon Springs and Middleburgh. See this week's paper or PDF editions for full coverage.

ALSO:
Students and their supporters will hold a Rally for Our Lives from 1-3pm Saturday in Cobleskill’s Centre Park.
The event is a sister rally to the National March for Our Lives and will feature music and speakers calling for common sense gun safety measures.
The rally follows students’ National Walkout Day last Wednesday (see coverage on page 13), also with the same message.
The National March for Our Lives—and the local rally—were organized after the February 14 shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, but are also focusing on other shootings: April 20 marks the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings.