By Miguel Nabor

On April, 2010, a group of Uplift Community High School sat impatiently and watched the clock. Waiting on exactly 8:46, the second period bell rang and we simply walked. Not to class or to the washrooms but instead we walked out of the building. All of the "secret" meetings during advisory and talks at lunch led to this one moment. Being affected by the budget cuts were the reason we walked out. We walked out to save our after school sports & stop our peers from hanging out on street corners. We walked so that our younger brothers and sisters’ didn’t have to fight for an education in a class of 37 students. We walked to make change, and that’s exactly what we did.

Arriving downtown to hundreds of students showed CPS that we as students care a lot more about our education than they give us credit for. Marching around the CPS headquarters drawing attention from everyone around downtown, boosted our momentum. Hopefully CPS takes us seriously and notices that they are affecting our futures.

By Georgina Sandifer

April 9th was an awesome day, not only did I get the opportunity to do my part in the fight for justice and equity but I was also able to create a learning opportunity for my son. When we arrived downtown, the crowd was small at first, but we were mighty and determined, we started things off by introducing ourselves and talking about why we were here, how we heard about the protest and how important this action was, we then began to march in a small circle in front of CPS headquarters, chanting “hey, hey, ho, ho, budget cuts have got to go”. Not too long after, the other buses began to arrive, and so did the news vans, and other supporters. The feeling was almost electric, we marched, and shouted, and chanted, about what these budget cuts would mean to us all and as we walked around the blocks cars blew their horns, and people their shouted support, newspaper reporters stopped to do interviews, camera men moved throughout the crowed to get a real feel for the movement. Not only was this a very moving and wonderful experience for me, it was a great experience for my son he is now part of a movement for education equity and reform. Although we were many, on that day, at that moment, we were one, united for a common purpose.