RED LION, YORK COUNTY, Pa. -- Students across the country are planning to walk out of school Wednesday, as part of an effort to bring attention to the issue of school safety.
Students at one local high school plan to make a difference in demonstrating by doing something a little different.
Red Lion Area Senior High School students who decide to participate in National Student Walkout Day will walk out of their classrooms, and into a safe meeting place, the school gym.
Students nationwide are planning to take to the hallways as they make their way to gather at 10 am Wednesday, March 14th, one month following the deadly school shooting in Florida.
Red Lion Area Senior High School student council president Jacob Franciscus said "students will come in here, together we will all sit in 17 minutes of silence. Every minute we will be mentioning one of the names of one of the students who were lost."
Red Lion Area Senior High School student council Emily Cutler said "the main motivator of us doing this is to remember those who died, but the other aspect is for change and for safety."
Franciscus and Cutler are putting their leadership skills to the test.
"This movement is entirely student planned, which is really what energized me, which also energized the student council to want to provide the students here at the Red Lion High School the opportunity to do this as well," Franciscus said.
"We want to stay unified throughout the tragic events, so the idea of being unified and having that safe community is really inspiring to me," Cutler said.
While many classrooms may sit empty Wednesday morning, the opportunity for students to listen to and respect different opinions still could be considered a lesson learned.
"I know that every student has an opinion, and so this is just an opportunity for us to let them voice that opinion," Cutler said.
"You know like, what do you want to see, to make the school a safer place, what is a safe school to you, and then we’ll be taking those responses for pretty much analysis, and we’ll be able to see what the students have to say," Franciscus said.