Lakewood Ranch students were told not to protest. They have other plans to highlight violence

Five students at Lakewood Ranch High School are getting creative after the district barred students from joining thousands of nationwide walkouts on Friday.

The Lakewood Ranch students hope to create a memorial garden on campus, complete with flowers and plaques, said Gee Basilone, a 16-year-old sophomore.

"We have this area in the courtyard in between these buildings with a bunch of murals in it," she said. "It's kind of been forgotten about and it's a little bit unkempt, so we wanted to work with one of the teachers who is working to revive it now."

She had expected at least 20 people to join her in a walkout on Friday, a day of remembrance and action. In conjunction with the 19th anniversary of the mass shooting at Columbine High School, activists around the country held National School Walkout and the National Day of Action Against Gun Violence in Schools.

Instead of staging a walkout, Basilone joined a small group of friends for a moment of silence after school.

They joined hands and reflected on the dozens of lives lost to shootings at Columbine High and, more recently, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

"Our principal came up to us after school and was like, 'I don't want you guys to be discouraged by this; I want you to know that we can always do the memorial.'"

The School District of Manatee County took a stance against walkouts and protests on April 13. District spokesman MIke Barber said demonstrations would be too much of a distraction during ongoing testing.

"I do understand why it happened, because they got a bunch of other requests from people doing walkouts for other political movements," Basilone said. "But it was still a little bit discouraging to see they were shutting down something that was actually involved with school and still hasn't ended."

This story was originally published April 20, 2018 at 5:50 PM with the headline "Lakewood Ranch students were told not to protest. They have other plans to highlight violence."