Some sat with heads bowed. Some stood with their eyes closed. Some looked around, shielding their faces from the sun. Some cried.

For 17 minutes, the usually talkative students of the Upper School mutely assembled in commemoration of the victims of the Valentine’s Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, and with young victims of gun violence in Chicago. Aside from the chirping birds and the occasional start of a motor, the Conservatory space was silent.  The crowd was essentially wordless.

A majority of the Upper School body had walked to the field in front of the Lincoln Park Conservatory at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, exactly one month following the massacre in Parkland. Among the clumps of students, a large, orange peace sign–taped to the top of a broom held alternately by senior Maya Sanghvi and junior Sammy Kagan–stood tall.

The 17 minute period of silence was held beyond Parker. After the fatal shooting in Florida, many took to social media to spread word of a National School Walkout. Named “Enough: National School Walkout,” the movement was organized by Women’s March Youth Empower, a branch of the Women’s March. The Parker administration decided to take part in the movement within days of the Parkland shooting.
Before the ceremony began, Kagan recited a poem titled “Letter Beginning with Two Lines,” by Czesła Miłosz. “‘Guns don’t kill people,’ they don’t/ have minds to decide/ such things, they don’t choose/ or have a conscience,/ and when a man doesn’t/ have a conscience, we call him/ a psychopath.”

For every minute of the silence, Sanghvi called out two names through a white bullhorn: one name of the 17 victims of the shooting at Parkland, and another of a recent, underrage victim of gun violence in Chicago, which she had chosen. In the distance, just west, chants of the Middle School’s rally could be heard.

“As a community we were all coming together for a common cause, especially in silence, which is chillingly unifying,” sophomore Allan Bennett said. “The period of silence was tying together two things that are somewhat related, and I think it was successful and practical.”

The ceremony ended with a few words from 43rd Ward Alderwoman Michele Smith. “Who is more important, America? Guns, or you?” Smith said, encouraging students to chant the question along with her. Smith urged students to take action by using the hashtag #OverrideRauner in response to the Illinois Governor’s recent veto of a gun licensing bill.

Thousands of students across Chicago and the country participated in the National School Walkout and 17 minutes of silence. “I’m hoping that people who are able to vote register and do vote in the next upcoming elections,” Upper School English teacher Mike Mahany said when asked about future actions. “What I liked about the 17 minutes of silence was that, in addition to commemorating the students from Florida, we also talked about victims in Chicago. I’m hoping that people will be more sensitive to what’s going on in the city.”