Metro Detroit students joining National School Walkout

WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (WJBK) - Students across the country plan to walk out of school on Wednesday, March 14 -- one month to the date since the Parkland High School massacre in Florida. Included in the planned walkout is West Bloomfield High School - which has a connection to Parkland.

On Wednesday, students will get up at 10 a.m. and walk out of school. They'll wait 17 minutes, to honor the 17 killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. According to organizers, the walkout is a call to Congress to "pass legislation to keep us safe from gun violence at our schools, on our streets, and in our homes and places of worship."

One of the organizers in Michigan is Jordan Robinson, a West Bloomfield High School student who happens to know two students at Parkland. Jordan was in Orlando, just two hours away, when the shooting happened. He was there for a convention for his youth group. His two friends at Stoneman Douglas were at school and were coming to join him at the conference, as they had also attended together the summer before. 

But then Jordan got a message from a fellow convention goer.

"She's like, 'Two of our friends are still inside there.' I'm sorry, what? She said, 'One of her friends was trying to escape and the other one is trapped in a closet'," Jordan recalled. "We were in shock; we were confused. We didn't know if any of our friends died. I didn't know what to do."

The two friends, Jenna and Haley, escaped the shooting. Within a few short weeks, Jordan and hundreds of student leaders from across the country hopped on a conference call and decided on the plan to walk out of school.

The walkout will be from 10 to 10:17 - one minute for each victim. 

This isn't simply a chance to skip out of class; the students say it's much bigger than that.  

"To show solidarity with Stoneman Douglas High School, that's our first big priority. We will be reading aloud the names of the 17 victims from the shooting. We will also be saying 'enough is enough.' We want change in our schools. It's time. There's one too many shootings and we won't let this continue. We are the students and we are the future of this country."

Jordan says this is a message to Jenna and Haley - and also every other victim.

"I want to tell them that West Bloomfield High School in the Midwest is standing with you; the schools in Ohio are standing worth you; and the schools in California are standing with you. You're not alone and we are always here to support you," he said.

For more information on the National School Walkout, CLICK HERE.