Vivian Geilim opinion editor
When the nutrition bell rang on Nov. 15, many students rushed to the second floor patio, eager to witness the assembled protest as a result of the most recent presidential election.
Junior Christine Kim and friends composed a rally in order to protest the presidency of Donald J. Trump.
“After Trump was elected, my friends and I were really upset and we saw that other people were protesting, so we decided, why not protest at school. So we decided to do that,” Kim said.
Anti-Trumpers gathered around the patio and chanted, “Donald Trump” comparing him to the white supremacist group the KKK and labeling him a “fascist.”
Signes labeled “my body, my choice” were scattered throughout the protest.
“Trump and Pence, Trump’s Vice President, are both pro-life. Trump also believes that women should be punished for receiving an abortion, which is totally wrong,” Kim said. “If a woman is not comfortable with having a baby or is not in the right state for a baby, they should have the choice to go on with an abortion. No man, woman or person should tell a woman or anyone in that matter, what to do with their body.”
As the pro-Hillary protesters rallied on the patio, a group of Trump supporters decided to fight in honor of the elected-president.
“They were saying untrue things about Trump like ‘he’s a racist, he’s a bully’ and stuff like that,” junior Nicholas Pupiec said. “We need to express our opinions also because we don’t think it’s right.”
Pupiec feels pride in America’s choice of president and feels that he and the rest of the country no longer need to be ashamed. In his mind, Trump as president is a president that we can be proud of.
“It’s important that we have a good leader [Donald Trump] and who is able to represent us so, I mean, in school it’s good to talk about it and in the outside world also,” Pupiec said.
To establish order in a school environment, Principal Dave Jackson discussed the regulations the protest needed to adhere to.
“They wanted to do it during nutrition on the second floor patio and I thought that was fine. We did talk about if you miss a class, then it’s an unexcused absence. I can’t excuse that absence so I was really pleased,” Jackson said. “We had 600 kids about which was great, some on the third floor watching. We made sure that there were no outside kids getting into our campus. Our kids went out there and they chanted and they expressed their opinion.”
As the third period bell rang, finalizing the end of the protest, students from both groups went to class.
“I think this was the first time in third period that we didn’t have any tardies,” Jackson said with a smile. “I’m proud of our kids, I’m proud of our teaching staff because they have taught our kids to be respectful, they have taught our kids to have a first amendment right, they taught our kids how to do something appropriately and I’m so happy that our kids felt safe enough to come and talk to me about it ahead of time and we have two difference of opinions.”
The differing opinions were strongly present and the supporters clashed verbally and the diversity of the voices was not stifled.
“I’m glad about how the protest went down. Although there were some Trump supporters, it’s fine because the protest was all about getting your voice heard, so if they wanted to speak out about it, about they’re trump supporters, then I’m fine with that,” Kim said.