On Monday, January 8, City students will walk out of school along with students across Iowa in solidarity with the community of Perry, Iowa following a school shooting on Thursday, January 4. 

“I have a friend who goes to Perry High School and so my first reaction was to make sure she was okay and make sure that her family [was] okay,” said walkout organizer Juan Rosado ‘25. “[I knew] we had to walk out and obviously a bunch of other high schools in Iowa [are] doing it too because this is in Iowa. We want to show that we don’t feel safe because this happened in our own state.”

City’s walkout will take place starting at 12:45 on Monday. City will be among other Iowa high schools walking out of school on the first day of the Iowa Legislative Session.

“We hope that this tragedy serves as a wake-up call to Iowa legislators to the prevalence of gun violence within the state of Iowa,” said March For Our Lives Iowa Executive State Directors Akshara Eswar and Hannah Hayes in a press release.

Rosado hopes that by walking out legislators will listen to the concerns of students protesting for gun reform. 

“I think the message simply is that what else has to happen than a shooting in our own state for our state government to pass laws to protect us? What else has to happen for legislation to be passed that will make sure that us as students can go to school and focus purely on succeeding and focus on our futures instead of where the closest exit [is]? How am I going to stay safe in an event that someone enters with a weapon and risks my life and the life of my peers?”