Mar 14, 2018 |
Some 60 St. Bonaventure University students, faculty and staff participated in Wednesday’s National School Walkout by gathering on campus and remembering the 17 victims of the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
Similar scenes were being played out at some 3,000 schools and college campuses across the country, Jeff Sved, director of St. Bonaventure’s Franciscan Center for Social Concern at America, told those assembled in the McGinley-Carney Center for Franciscan Ministry. “We’re all delivering the same message,” he said. “Never again.”
Wednesday’s walkout encouraged students to leave classes at 10 a.m. as part of a nationwide protest demanding tougher gun laws and an end to America’s epidemic of school shootings. Many demonstrations and observances were planned to last 17 minutes, a minute for each of the Parkland victims.
At St. Bonaventure, framed photos of each of the victims were lined up on a long table in the front of the McGinley-Carney Center’s great room. A tall, single candle burned behind each picture.
One by one, 17 St. Bonaventure students and staff members came to a microphone, each presenting a brief biographical sketch of one of the Parkland victims. Some fought back tears as they revealed the victims’ unique characteristics, abilities and aspirations.
The 17-minute program ended with a moment of silence to remember those killed by school shootings and a call to action by Sved.
“I’m challenging you to think about what it means to be part of a Franciscan community,” said Sved. “What can we do to end this violence? How can you be an instrument of God’s peace?”
Organizers of the program at St. Bonaventure were Kaylyn Foody, a freshman from Pittsburgh, Pa.; Lauren Barry, a freshman from Syracuse; Jessica Cason, a graduate student from Buffalo; and Haylei John, a senior from Salamanca.
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