At Marysville-Pilchuck High School on the 27th of January, 2026, students proceeded out of the school premises to walk out towards State Avenue where they were met with one of the busiest streets in Marysville, Washington to get the word spread on the current United States’ immigration policies and enforcement.
MPHS student and overall coordinator for the walkout, Olivia Campos (‘27), said that she “was one of the groups of students that helped kind of get the idea out there, organize the protest and then I was also there to support getting students there and making sure everyone was safe.” The motive for this walkout was because, “we see all these things happening to our community and these things happening to our family and friends and we should be able to have a voice and use it respectfully and having a peaceful walkout protest is showing that we are respectful,” She also stated her view on current events sharing that “…what is happening is wrong.”
While this movement was quite organized, not all students were engaged in trying to spread awareness. Some students were only there to leave class, Campos estimates that 10% of students were of that category. However, presence is such an important aspect in any event that pursues public awareness, especially one that targets a federal subject; such as this one on I.C.E.. Seeing that students are protesting on these matters shows that this nationwide altercation has not only reached adults of many ages, but also to teenagers who are seeking an ultimate change.
Campos didn’t set up the walkout by herself. She was alongside MPHS’ MEChA Club Founder and Alumni, Ana Romero-Diaz (‘25) who contributed for the setup of the walkout, two weeks prior. Campos reached out to Romero-Diaz for support in coordinating the walkout to ensure that there would be no legal trouble from the school district and to have an adult present. They even went the length to communicate with school administrators to ensure maximum safety and reassurance of legalities during this walkout.
For a protest to have an impact, you must be there for a while so an influx of passerbys can hear and see what the message is that is being told. Romero-Diaz said that students met up with coordinators at around 8:30AM, and stayed on State Avenue for about five or six hours until heading back to campus. People passing by gave food and drinks to students participating in the protest showing their support for these students and their courageous choice to practice their first amendment right to assemble and speak freely.
Some supportive gestures from people passing by involved “honking as they were driving by, giving us a thumbs up, smiling at us.” Mercado said. However, not all were supportive, describing that there “were people obviously very upset about it. People driving by, you know, flipping us off.” Adding on to that, Mercado described that there was a specific incident where a person went the length of taking both their hands off the steering wheel, switching to their knees to steer, and flipping students off with both hands. This didn’t stop students though, it is an obstacle that everyone participating in a protest has to face and overcome.
Although these students all seemed fearless in the moment, there was one initially hesitant student. Josiah Mercado (‘26) who currently attends MPHS emphasized his fear in participating in the walkout because of recent nationwide events; such as one that Mercado exemplified: the Alex Pretti shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He reached out to his parents who were concerned about his safety, explained his aspiration in participating in the walkout and reassured them that “it was gonna be okay.”
Some people might assume that students’ brains aren’t developed enough yet to comprehend the current events on I.C.E., but this isn’t the case for schools participating in walkouts. “We’re not that young to not understand what is going on, and see how it affects our families, our communities, our friends, our neighbors, the people that are around us that might even mean the world to us. We see how it impacts them. And with that, you want to be part of the change.” Romero-Diaz said.
Not only did the walkout spark awareness to those in Marysville, it even made an outreach towards the Arlington area, the Marysville-Getchell area, and more schools further south of Marysville have begun coordinating their own walkouts as well. Campos had gotten her inspiration for this walkout “last year at Cascade High School. They did a walkout, and it wasn’t really like televised. It wasn’t really like people didn’t really know about it, but I saw it and I always wanted to do it,” Campos said. “Once we saw Everett High School doing it, after they had noticed that I.C.E was in their area, I think that we just wanted to get it done so people could see that we were trying to do this and we were serious about it.”
Lastly, each student sent out a message to those reading:
“I think it’s important that we should all be able to speak about what’s affecting us in a respectful way.” Campos said.
“We’re tired of not being heard. That just means we’ve got to take matters into our own hands, and to share our voices and raise up what is happening in the world and putting it on the radar.” Romero-Diaz said.
“The sad part [is] that there’s always going to be someone against what you believe.” Mercado said.