S
tudent activism has been at its highest recently, stemming from gun violence protests around the country. Following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14th, student activists from South East Junior High decided to protest and walk out the next day along with both City and West High Schools. One major thing that came out of this was a student activist group called Students Against School Shootings, or SASS. Shayna Jaskolka ‘18 is one of the students who helped plan the walkout, and is a core member of this group. “SASS is Students Against School Shootings, and our goal is to inform people about gun violence and how there are way that we can stop it and make sure that people are educated about guns so people know the damage that guns can do and our goal is to hopefully convince senators and representatives of Iowa and everywhere in the country to pass some sensible and common sense gun laws,” Jaskolka said. Although there was limited time to plan the protest, Jaskolka was proud of how the event turned out. “We found out that South East Junior High was planning a walkout the night before and so instead of doing something of our own, we decided to go and just do the walkout with them. We planned and put together the entire walkout in about twelve hours, which was really impressive,” Jaskolka said. “After that, I think all of us in the
group felt really good about what we had done, so we wanted to keep doing more. So this group basically formed from what we thought would be an ill-planned walkout.” One thing Jaskolka particularly enjoyed was being one of the group’s organizers. “I’ve always liked being the leader because you get to watch over everything, see everything happen and you get to participate in the planning process,” Jaskolka said. “I’m just really excited to be a part of this group and be an activist. I’m really glad I was able to help start this group too. Instead of just being a part of an organization, I get to say I helped start it.” Before this protest, Jaskolka’s activism had been fairly limited to social media rants. “I often post angry rants on social media about
things President Trump has said and things from
“THE MAIN GOAL RIGHT NOW IS JUST TO TRY AND KEEP THE MOMENTUM OF THE MOVEMENT GOING.” - BIHOTZA JAMES-LEJARCEGUI people who identify with the Republican party, but
By Mina Takahashi