NEWS
Student Walkout
Micah Kirksey, 10 PCN
Students all across the small state of Oklahoma and students from many different schools participated in a huge act of bravery. Thousands of students took part in a student walkout on behalf of the former death row inmate Julius Jones.
For Nineteen years, Julius Jones was on death row in Oklahoma for the 1999 murder of Paul Howell. For those nineteen years, Julius Jones had continued to claim his innocence, with his family making a great effort to get the case reviewed due to evidence in question. For the two families involved this has been an ongoing nightmare. “To Julius’s mother, all I have to say is wow. I'm sure that she's been in a river of tears for 20 years. Now that Julius is not on death row anymore, probably in another river of tears,” faculty member Jacque Marion.
As his execution date grew closer the case shocked not only the youth of Oklahoma, but quite frankly the young people of the world. “I first learned about the case from an Instagram post. From then, I had to do my own research to understand the case. It truly made my stomach ache,” senior Shelbi Chaney said.
Even with people questioning Julius’s innocence, these brave young adults wanted their voices to be heard. “I try to do my best to have my voice heard,” Chaney said. Hundreds of students arranged to walk out of school in order to gain the attention of governor Stitt.
Students had their doubts about the walk out making a difference but still followed through. “I was 50/50 about Julius ever getting clemency. Part of me always had faith, but learning the background of the case, I was a bit skeptical. I made sure I did my research before I made a decision,” senior Alijah Adams said.
Teachers and educators at Putnam City High School watched as their students left the building. Students walked and expressed a freedom many of their families fought so hard for. “The fact that our students were protesting made me so proud. Before the first day of protesting, we were asking the kids to make sure they knew what they were protesting for. The case goes back long before them (PCN students),so it was important to protest with purpose,” Marion said.
Overall, students were super satisfied seeing how much change can be made, if they just work together. “Honestly, if people realize they have a voice and speak up for something important, we could change so many things in life and our community,” senior Alijah Adams said.
After Julius’s new sentencing, a wave of peace broke over the supporters of Julius Jones. Although Jones' sentence was commuted, many people across the world, including students and school faculty members felt as if justice had not been served completely. “Well, I'm glad he was not executed and his poor mother did not have to make funeral arrangements. No parent wants to bury their child. To Julius, we will continue fighting for you,” Marion said.
In the long run, this case, just like many others, has brought many together to realize our voices matter, our people matter, Black Lives Matter.
Maria Escobar, 12 PCO
DECA & FCCLA Conferences
The FCCLA conference was held earlier this Fall at Trinity Baptist Church in Yukon, The schools that attended were PCO, PCN, PCW, Yukon high school and middle school, Mustang high school and middle school, Western Heights, Capps middle school and Cooper middle school. The event was 70’s themed.
“I enjoyed the speaker, Miss Oklahoma, and that we got to be all together in spite of the pandemic. I also won 2nd place in the costume contest,” FCCLA sponsor Ms. Grotheer said.
Miss. Oklahoma, Ashleigh Robinson was there, she talked to the students about ‘Citizens Caring for Children’ a nonprofit “to help meet specific needs of foster children.” “She’s and advocate for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in opportunities for education, employment, and social engagement,” information from Miss.Oklahoma.org
“It was well planned, well organized. We had food so that was great. They also had games, they were lots of fun. It was not very COVID safe. They gave opportunities for the crowd to participate in the events and it made it feel welcoming and fun. Then we went to eat at Cici’s, so that was cool,” senior and FCCLA member Jazmi Ortiz said.
There was a costume contest between the teachers of each school. They also had a karaoke contest, the winner was decided by the students. Whoever got the most screams would be the winner of each round.a student from PCO won the karaoke contest.
The DECA conference was at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Norman, October 18th. Between DECA and BPA almost 1,200 students attended. Juan Bendaña was the guest speaker at the conference.
“It was really good to get back to the in person conference, it was still a little stressful to plan everything out. Being responsible for students in the middle of COVID was stressful, but overall it felt good to be back,” DECA sponsor Mrs. Lair.
The speaker Juan Bendaña was very enthusiastic when talking to the students. He told the students about his life experiences with things that related to DECA. he shared stories about trying new things for the first time and how it is good to get out of your comfort zone and try new things.
“Since I want to get a degree in business, there were a lot of colleges there that could get me a good education in that. They were informing me about their programs. Overall it was a fun experience, everyone was very motivating and the speaker had a lot of experience and he was very empowering,” senior and DECA Vice President Valeria Gutierrez said.