A group of students at Pella High School is uniting their voices as part of a national walkout event Friday.

Dozens are expected to participate in a demonstration to stand with others around the country about increasing safety in schools at 10 a.m.

Grayson Parisee tells KNIA/KRLS News their goal is to push differences aside and not to divide politically, so in turn, more solutions can be created to protect everyone on every campus in the country.

“Sometimes it feels like our world is so divided, that we wanted this to be a time where we could all come together and say enough is enough–we shouldn’t have to worry about our survival, we should be worrying about our school work,” he says. “We’re trying to keep away from politicizing this and making it about one specific issue.”

April 20th is the 21st anniversary of the tragic shooting at Columbine High School, and the students participating in the walkout will stand in silence and solidarity for thirteen seconds to remember those lost, with a following seventeen minute demonstration with short speeches to honor those killed during the Parkland massacre.

Annaleigh Babcock believes many of her peers don’t grasp how those types of tragedies could happen here at home.

“I’ve been trying my best to encourage kids to do this, because I think some of them just feel like they are so far away from the issue because we’re in small-town Pella, Iowa, that nothing could happen like that here,” she says.

“But then I think about how if it were my friend who this happened to, or my teacher, how bad I would feel about how I didn’t do anything to try to stop it.”

Hear more from the students participating in tomorrow’s walkout at Pella High School on tomorrow’s In-Depth with Dr. Bob Leonard. A group of Pleasantville students are also planning to participate at their high school.