Half an hour before the April 20 school walkout tension was building. Staff from Hutchison High School had begun taking their positions beside the bus lane. Just past the staff a State Trooper patrol car was visible, idling in the parking lot of the school. In the opposite parking lot, where the high schoolers would soon gather, three pickup trucks rumbled to a stop, two carrying American flags, the other baring the black and gold flag of the NRA. On the northern end, a staff member turned away a fourth pickup truck, baring a Confederate flag.

H. VonderHaar, a Hutchison student, had sent two chilling texts that morning:

“Someone brought a gun to [West Valley High School]. They’re on lockdown and everyone is safe. People are being scary today.”

“We’re still walking out, but I just wanted to give you a heads up that there’s a lot going on”

VonderHaar is one of the Fairbanks high schoolers pushing for change as part of the local March For Our Lives movement. She helped organize both her school’s walkouts and the local March For Our Lives in Golden Heart Plaza on March 24. VonderHaar is a senior graduating later this year. She plans to attend a college in the pacific northeast for design, hoping to "help people, through art."

VonderHaar is not alone organizing these events. Z. Lanis, 17, and E. Adasiak, 14, have spearheaded the effort to organize students at Lathrop High School. They too organized both walkouts and helped with the rally in Golden Heart Plaza. Lanis, also a senior, plans to go into mechanical engineering, and applies his aptitude for numbers to his fight against gun violence. In speeches and conversation, he routinely brings up statistics on Alaskan gun violence.

Adasiak is more socially oriented. She says the majority of her contribution to the movement has been spreading the word about events on a variety of social media platforms. She says she plans to go into politics after graduation, to make a positive change in the world.

Supporting a movement like the March For Our Lives hasn’t been easy. VonderHaar and Adasiak have faced increased discriminatory behavior from both the students and staff of their schools. Lanis has even received anonymous death threats over his role. The tension came to a head April 20, as a student brought a gun to West Valley just hours before the planned walk out, on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine shooting.

All of this has failed to stop these young activists. All three of the major Fairbanks high schools saw student walkouts, with about 100 students attending rallies nearby. As VonderHaar told the crowd that afternoon “This is a movement, not a moment. Threats will not stop us.”