Thousands of Minnesota students walked out of classes this morning at 10 am in honor of the 17 Parkland, Florida victims killed in last month’s shooting and to protest gun violence in schools as part of a nationwide campaign. Dr. Emily Palmer is principal at Sanford Middle School in Minneapolis and says her students participated because “we want to support our students and staff who feel strongly about issues of school safety.” Dr. Palmer says student safety is a top priority at Sanford, as is finding a balance for students who are often inundated with bad news and negative images. Palmer says “we struggle a lot at school with how much stuff kids are exposed to both on the news and frankly on YouTube.” Palmer says kids don’t necessarily get healthy messages from those resources, and administrators are always working on ways to counter that. A student at a different school in south Minneapolis who participated in this morning’s walkout said “I think it’s important that we as students rise as political activists and champion what we think is right for us, which is the right to be safe and secure within our school environment, which we go to every day and see our friends and teachers and other people who we care about.”