Durham School of the Arts Students Stage Walkout for Climate Action

“Scientists have told us we have six years left to solve the climate crisis before it becomes irreversible,” Sarah Rodrigues announces through a megaphone. “How old will you be in six years?”

Scores of her classmates, sprawled on the sidewalk in front of Durham School of the Arts, do some quick mental math.

“Twenty-two!” “Twenty-one!” comes the collective response. “Twenty-seven!” one student yells, sparking a chorus of cackles.

The mood is light. But on this brisk mid-November afternoon, these futures feel fragile. The students have gathered as part of a nationwide wave of school walkouts for climate action in the wake of Donald Trump’s reelection. They’re holding signs that say things like “It’s A Tough Hill But We Can Climate” and “Climate Change Is Here. So Are We.”

“If action does not get taken, by the time that we are in college, our Earth will be at a place of irreversible damage,” Rodrigues, a junior, continues.

Organized by youth chapters of the Sunrise Movement, the walkouts at DSA and other schools come as students grapple with the environmental implications of Trump’s return to office. During his previous term, Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement and rolled back numerous environmental protections. He’s vowed to increase domestic oil and gas production while slashing climate spending in his next four years in office.

But while some schools explicitly framed their protests as anti-Trump demonstrations, DSA’s chapter is taking a more action-oriented approach. 

“We’re pushing for a Green New Deal for Schools, which would be an eco-friendly policy, throughout the school district,” Rodrigues tells the INDY. “For our context, it was important to us to focus on action and what we can do, and less on the candidate as an individual.”

DSA students launched the Green New Deal for Schools initiative after getting connected to the Sunrise hub at UNC-Chapel Hill. That partnership has transformed Sunrise DSA from a standard school club into something more ambitious, according to junior Avery O’Brien.

“Now we’re connected to the national organization, we have actual tools to push policy forward,” O’Brien says.

“Shoutout to Shiva,” Rodrigues adds, referencing a student leader of UNC Sunrise, Shiva Rajbhandari, who made headlines in 2022 when he was elected to the Boise School Board—as a high school student—after running on a campaign centered on climate justice. 

“Without him, we would still be doing, like, recycling and community service,” Rodrigues continues. “Which is, of course, important. But he’s the one that’s been getting us to do this policy orientation.”

In recent months, Sunrise DSA members have been making the rounds through history classes, gathering student input on environmental concerns. The five demands of their “Green New Deal for Schools” campaign include safe and clean buildings, a “climate justice curriculum,” free and healthy lunches, climate disaster plans that utilize school buildings as community-wide recovery zones, and pathways to jobs in climate-related fields.

“Clean and safe buildings” hits especially close to home for DSA students as they contend with aging infrastructure while awaiting a new campus.

“We are fortunate to have a new, safer building being built for us, but other students do not have that opportunity,” Rodrigues says. “Around the school district, there are broken HVAC systems, power outages, asbestos, leaking roofs.”

Rodrigues and O’Brien say administrators have been supportive of the work Sunrise DSA is doing. Principal Jackie Tobias worked with them to plan the walkout on short notice.

“We went back and forth on doing this, so there was a little bit of last minute planning,” Rodrigues says. “Our principal did a great job of working with us on that tight schedule.”

The 15-minute demonstration conveniently began when the bell rang for a class change at 1 p.m., so students only missed about ten minutes of class. 

In an email to the INDY, Tobias wrote, “I am extremely proud of our students for using their voices and knowledge to make a difference. This is precisely what we desire.”

While the administration’s support is encouraging, students harbor no illusions about the challenges ahead. 

“There’s a high risk that it will not end well,” O’Brien says, when asked about the future. “The science can seem really overwhelming at times. But I think it would be worse to do nothing.”

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