MADISON (WKOW) -- Students across the nation will walk out of class Wednesday morning to show support for the victims of the Parkland, Florida shooting.
Many of those walkouts are planned in southern Wisconsin, too. Three girls at Hamilton Middle School are planning a walkout just before 10 a.m., to coincide with the national action. They'll walk to Rennebohm Park, then write letters to lawmakers and gun sellers, urging an end to gun violence.
"As many as we can, just because it's.. we're done. Enough is enough and we're getting our voices out as much as we can," said Maddie Uphoff.
The students will hold 170 seconds of silence, 10 for each Parkland victim. Then, they'll spend 17 minutes calling for change."To remember all the victims of the Florida shooting but also to inspire change," Eliza Miller told 27 News. "To show that we will not take this sitting down. We are going to fight until change happens."
Many school districts in our area have said they'd like the students in class, but they can walkout, as long as their parent/guardian calls to excuse them. The girls' motivation is inspiring parents to allow the absence.
"[The district has] to go by the book in terms of requesting people are in class when they're supposed to be, nevertheless, I think it's important to take action and be engaged in government and civics, so I think you'll probably learn more from being out of school than you would from being in school on that particular day," said Nicholas Siebers, whose two daughters are planning separate walkouts at their schools.
Eliza Siebers says it's an opportunity to share their beliefs with everyone, no matter their viewpoint.
"This is giving us an outlet to talk about it and somewhere outside of school, where we can share what we believe in with our peers and our classmates," Eliza said.
The girls designed a t-shirt for students to wear at the walkout. It reads: Keep us safe. End gun violence in schools. They've sold more than 150, to raise money for an activist organization working to end gun violence.
The three will also join other students across the area who are marching on the state Capitol Wednesday after the walkouts.
For more on this story: http://www.wkow.com/story/37709115/2018/03/12/students-motivated-to-walkout-of-class-to-stop-gun-violence