By Sarah Barney
Stockbridge HS
1st Place
Division 4, Yearbook
Feature Writing
Crowds gathered upon the UnitedStates Capitol as well as in other major cities and in countries across the world. As with most elections, some voters were left feeling less than satisfied with the results. But the numbers of marchers that turned out, student and youths among them, were recording-breaking.
“I wanted to go to support the women in my life,” explained junior Cameron Flynn, who took part in the march on Washington. “It’s an important thing to show that you support your cause. So many people turned out, it was impossible to ignore. If everyone had stayed at home, we would have been complacent, and I don’t feel like that’s truly democracy at that point.”
Crowd scientists Marcel Altenburg and Keith Still, from Manchester Metropolitan University in Britain, estimated about 470,000 people at the march in Washington. Some estimated there were over half a million.
“It was humbling seeing that many people,” Flynn said. “For the longest time afterward, people were still pouring out of the mall.”
At a sister march in Lansing, Michigan, an estimated 8,000 to 9,000 people gathered to show support for their causes. One student who attended the local march was sophomore Carmen Wilson.
“My whole family went,” Wilson said. “We were there for, well, everything. All the rights that were threatened. We wanted to bring awareness that even though Donald Trump is threatening some rights, some people will still be fighting to keep them.”