English teacher Jeremiah Dollins is leading a protest against all the recent on-campus violence.

One day his sixth period class was discussing all the fights that have been going on and how they are disrupting the end of the year celebrations when one senior mentioned that they should protest against the violence and get everyone’s attention on the issue. Dollins says he hopes to “send a message of peace and harmony, and that Colton can be a safe place for the students.”

Alena Rock-Ortiz, one student involved in the protest, says that, “All that violence should stop; it’s making our school look really bad.” Some say that all the fights are caused by racial issues, but I had the chance to talk to security and they had a few things to say about the fights. Security guard Chris Ma’ilo feels that the problems here are not to do with racial issues at all. After 19 years of working here, Ma’ilo has found that every year it’s the same thing; just drama and students not knowing how to deal with their problems with other kids. He says that most of the students here are good kids just looking to get their diploma.

Another security guard, Ray Sepulveda, says that “lunch clubs would help the problems.” Maybe getting the kids more involved in school activities will keep them out of trouble and busy. Both agreed that “with more activities, fewer problems would start.” They also both mentioned that seeing kids and teachers wanting the violence to stop is a good start of sparking change here on campus.