Friday, March 15, at 12:00 pm on the Issaquah High campus, students came together to participate in one part of this world-wide movement. Inspired by Greta Thunberg, a 16 year old Swedish activist, students gathered outside the school holding posters displaying bold and witty statements like, “There is no ‘Planet B’!” And “Like the sea level, we RISE!” The atmosphere in the crowd of students on that bright day was buzzing with passion and a palpable want for a revolution.

Amongst the group that came out, many had voices that wanted to be heard. One student said, “The world needs to actually care. Like with the Paris Climate Conferences, people need to make promises and keep them. Even if it is just one person doing it, things add up. There are several million people in this country, there are several billion people on the planet. If even one person chooses to make a change, we all can make a difference.” Junior Kimmy Murphy explained her reason for walking out and said, “I think that everything has been made to be too much about progress and there’s not enough about fixing what we already have done. We need to move away from the progress section on focus on conservation and figuring out to make what we have right now work, because nothing is working right now.”

Senior Mimi Gaudiano, who coordinated the walk out, specified why she chose to bring the movement to IHS: “When I heard about the global movement that was happening, I looked into whether or not Issaquah High school was doing anything. And when I found out that we weren’t, it felt a little bit like a disappointment because there had been protests here before about current issues that matter and have an impact on the world. But when I found out that nothing was happening here, I decided that I would raise awareness that the global walk out and movement was happening so that other people who were interested in participating could do so.” Gaudiano’s inspiration and passion shines through in their decision, and hopefully this dedication can continue to spread and motivate others through out IHS and the country.