Community members join March for Our Lives rally in Greensburg

The Voice of Westmoreland hosted one of the hundreds of registered March for Our Lives demonstrations taking place this weekend throughout the country. Students, parents, teachers and community members gathered outside of the Westmoreland County Courthouse on Friday to demonstrate common sense gun laws among other concerns in light of mass shootings in America, particularly in schools.

“I want you to image 17 students at your school that are suddenly gone,” said Meg Jones, from Hempfield Area High School, speaking to the crowd at the march. “It is time to wake up, it is time for never again.”

Jones, 17, is referring to the 17 students who were murdered on Feb. 14 after a 19-year-old former student opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. The march in Greensburg came one day before the hundreds of planned demonstrations that took place in Washington D.C. and across the country, including one in Pittsburgh.

“It was going to be difficult to get buses to Pittsburgh or Washington, so we thought ‘why not just have a small one here,'” said Emma Skidmore, a junior at Greensburg Salem High School who organized the event with The Voice of Westmoreland. “We just wanted to show our community that we stand with the victims and survivors of school shootings. We want to promote safer communities and schools.”

“When children are acting like leaders and leaders are acting like children, you know change is coming,” said Jon McCabe, a senior at Penn State New Kensington, during his speech at the march on Friday. “This is just the beginning.”

Photos by Calli Arida, Setonian Assistant Editor

Published By: Callista Arida

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