On Thursday, an audience of students voluntarily gathered at the Pattonville stadium during Homeroom and listened to a group of six students speak about their desire to unify all students.

Senior Maya Furr was among the six student speakers who planned this event. They were anxious about the number of people who would show up because attendance at the 9 a.m. event was voluntary. Some estimated as few as four people would show up for the rally, but as time went on, a crowd of about 300 students walked out of school after second hour and moved to the football stadium to support the movement.

The organizers met with administrators beforehand to discuss how the event would go and what was to be discussed amongst the students.

One of the speakers, senior Orlando Williams, wanted to emphasize how it is not OK to agree with any occurrences of racially insensitive comments.

“We’re on the right path,” Williams said. “We want to educate everyone and tell them that this is how a certain group feels.”

Many students, like junior Bianca Johnson who chose to attend the event, were impressed with the diversity of the onlookers in the stands.

“I went to the rally because I wanted to see all of us unify together regardless of race,” Johnson said. “I would like for us to start to be less divided.”

Furr said the big takeaway that everyone was supposed to get from the event was that students at Pattonville can work as a student body to come together and talk about on-going issues that currently divide them.

“Standing up to make a change doesn’t have to involve just a single person, certain race, ethnicity, color, or gender,” Furr said. “Overall it involves everyone to have a right to speak out and come together and unify those divisions that have been made.”

The event ended with people in the crowd standing up to applaud the speakers for sharing their messages and appreciating the hard work that was put into this plan to bring together students and hear the voices of six students that hoped to embody the ones who couldn’t speak up.

The rally was concluded before the start of 4th hour with an impromptu performance of Pattonville’s alma mater by members of the school’s choir. A variety of songs were considered when thinking about how to close the event, but the alma mater was chosen because it fit the goal of solidarity the best.

“A lot of people communicate through song,” senior speaker Nadia Maddex said. “At graduation, the one song you’re going to hear other than the National Anthem is the alma mater. That represents Pattonville and what we stand for. No matter what your viewpoint is, you’re going to hear that song and it symbolizes the values of the people of Pattonville.”

The goal of the people who organized this event was to promote unity throughout the student body so in the future, Pattonville can be an even better place for the students who already have pride in their school and for those unsure if their voice is currently recognized.