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Muskegon school launches ‘What Is Your 17’ Campaign

Posted at 4:52 AM, Mar 14, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-14 07:28:47-04

MUSKEGON, Mich. -- Students at Muskegon Public Schools won't be walking out on Wednesday, instead to show their support for the victims of Parkland they created the 'What Is Your 17' Campaign.

"We didn't know if our students were walking out, there weren't anything, there weren't any messages on Facebook that we saw, there were not organizations, we talked to them and it didn't seem like something they were interested in doing for the simple fact of the question I ask of if we walk out what is next, we don't want it to be a protest for just one day so what is next?" said Muskegon Public Schools Superintendent Justin Jennings. "And I think that kind of spurred the ability for them to think about doing something else, and I think bring forth the 'What Is Your 17' campaign is a really good idea because it is something that we can do every day."

Each day the students at all of the Muskegon Public Schools will be challenged to completely 17 acts of kindness.

"We talked about talking to someone and just saying 'hi' to someone you haven't talked to before, eating lunch next to somebody, if you see someone being bullied to step up for them or just different things like that," Jennings said.

As an administrator Jennings said his priority is not only to make sure the students are learning but also to ensure that students and staff feel secure and safe.

"As a superintendent I feel terrible because one of the things that is most important to me is, the first and foremost thing is teaching and learning and making sure our students learn but the safety of not only our students but our staff as well," Jennings said. "I know there were many staff members who lost their lives trying to protect kids and there were students who lost their lives just being at school and we want our students no matter if we are in Florida or Michigan we want our students safe at school."