St. Paul students walk out, march to State Capitol

Hundreds of St. Paul middle school and high school students walked out of their classrooms on Jan. 14, 2026 and marched to the State Capitol. Among those participating were Central High School, Como Park Senior High School, South Saint Paul Secondary. The protest was organized by students. 

A TEEN'S PERSPECTIVE

On Jan. 14, two friends and I left our classes at DeLaSalle High School to go join Saint Paul high and middle schools at the capitol building to protest against the recent increase in ICE activity, and the unjust killing of Renee Good. On the way, I stopped home to grab my camera so I could document and share photos of the walkout. We arrived at the capitol at around 1:30 p.m. and were welcomed by several schools who were already there. We were greeted with music and speeches from student speakers who would later lead us in chants. One person even brought chalk and a jump rope! Despite the unfortunate circumstances, and the chilly weather, the crowd was lively. Yes we were there to protest, and yes the temperatures were below freezing, but that wasn’t going to stop us from having fun.

As the afternoon went on, several other Saint Paul schools participating in the walk out would show up, marching with signs and chants loud enough to be heard from blocks away. Every time a new school would show up, the crowd would erupt in cheers, welcoming the new students. Between listening to the speakers' speeches, drawing with chalk, warming up inside the capitol building, and joining in on chants led by students, we were kept busy. All of the speeches we heard were very touching, and very well written, especially considering some of the speakers were young enough to still be in eighth grade.

Overall it was a very successful event, hosted solely by the students from local schools. It made me happy to see how many different schools showed up to participate, and it gives me hope to see so many students fighting back against corruption and violence, in search of much needed change.

Zach Lawyer is a senior at DeLaSalle High School.