As tenth-grader Naomi Rodriguez grabbed the microphone, she looked out at her classmates and set the record straight: This isn’t about gun control.

“What we’re doing here isn’t to push a political agenda,” the 15-year-old said, providing the opening remarks for West Career and Technical Academy’s student-led walkout. “Regardless of what your political views are, at the end of the day, I think we all just want to agree that we don’t want to get shot at school. We just want to be safe, and we want to get our education.”

Minutes earlier, roughly 1,400 students and their teachers piled out of the magnet high school and shuffled to an on-campus athletic field, where posters, microphones and markers awaited. This was the plan the students and their principal reached — an event focused on safety and solidarity in the wake of the Parkland shooting, which left 17 dead at a Florida high school last month.

Students and staff participated in two safety drills — a “shelter in place” and a school-wide evacuation — before the clock struck 10 a.m. Wednesday. After staff had counted heads for the evacuation, students had a choice: They could either return to the cafeteria or participate in the walkout. Most stayed.

Among them was Lynette Martinez, an eleventh-grader who more than five months earlier lived through the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival. She described for her peers how a night filled with sweet memories quickly turned into chaos and carnage.

“Covered in blood. Empty boots in the middle of the street. Cars picking up random people. Bodies on the floor,” she said. “Suddenly every move is life or death.”

West CTA student Lynette Martinez, a Route 91 survivor, speaks during #nationalwalkoutday. #westwalkout pic.twitter.com/fml7aX0fvz

— Jackie Valley (@JackieValley) March 14, 2018

Now, when Martinez leaves home each day, she worries whether it will be her last.

“So how can we stop fear from controlling our lives?” she said. “One answer: a barrier of support. Love, care for one another. Empowering and inspiring one another to be united as a school community and as a nation.”

The words shared by West CTA students Wednesday morning — the same day teens staged walkouts across the city, state and nation — left Principal Amy Rozar feeling even more confident in the young leaders.

“I have never been prouder to be your principal than this day,” she told them as her voice cracked.

But in the weeks leading up to Wednesday, which was dubbed the National Walkout Day, there was some question whether students would face punishment for participating. The Clark County School District came under criticism last month from the ACLU of Nevada and others after initially discouraging students from participating in any walkouts. The Washoe County School District also sent a memo in February saying students who participated in non-approved school walkout events would be marked tardy or absent from their missed classes.

“It is so important during these times that we talk with our students about how a walkout is not necessary and that we are all working together to optimize school safety,” Clark County administrators wrote in a memo to principals on Feb. 21.

The ACLU of Nevada said in a statement that a number of complaints had been filed by students saying they received threats from school officials that they would withhold honors diplomas and suspend students for participating in walkouts. ACLU officials warned Nevada school districts not to engage in tactics that would amount to “excessive punishment.”

By Monday, Clark County officials softened their stance while reiterating that safety was the overarching concern. Students who walk off campus without parental or administrative approval would be marked tardy or unexcused, they said. As a result, all Clark County walkouts occurred on campus.

“Some students have approached school administrators about organizing events on campus to talk about school safety,” school officials announced in a statement Monday. “As long as the administrators pre-approve those events and the students remain safe and on campus, this is an appropriate way for students to express themselves.”

Rozar, who has been West CTA’s principal for five years, said she supported her students’ desire to participate in the national movement. She just wanted them to assemble in a safe, organized and respectful manner on campus, a place she said students should consider their “home.”

“I really wanted to give these kids a voice,” she said. “I trust them.”

Several hundred miles north, students were doing the same at Reno High School. Hundreds of students burst through the school’s front doors at 10 a.m. and gathered on the front lawn to hear their classmates discuss gun control and school safety.

Emme Haw, a Reno High senior, said she was concerned this latest momentum would fade — just like it has following other mass-casualty events. And that’s a problem, Haw said, because she still lives with worry that one day she or her younger sister will get hurt at school.

“It seems as if these things happen and then people move on with their lives. That has to stop,” she said. “That has to start with us. We are the new voice of America. We are the next generation.”

Meanwhile, Savannah Scott, another Reno High senior, waded into politics. She criticized Sen. Dean Heller and Rep. Mark Amodei for accepting money from the National Rifle Association.

“They don’t represent our beliefs. They do not care about us or our values,” Scott said. “With this midterm coming up, all of us who are turning 18, we are going to vote and we are going to vote them out of office.”

Scott said she was “shocked in the best way possible,” at the number of her fellow Reno High students who participated in the walkout.

“I thought I was going to be the crazy lady out in front of the school with a sign screaming, ‘end gun violence,’” Scott said.

Reno High School Principal Kris Hackbusch said staff supported students’ choice to walk out and purchased a banner, where the teens wrote messages of support to students at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

“This is their event and we just ask them, once they are done, to go ahead and go back to class,” Hackbusch said.

While most walkouts wrapped up within a half hour, students vowed to carry on the conversation.

Zachary Marks, the student body president at West CTA, said he’s proud to be a teen advocating for a safer society.

“This isn’t the end,” he said. “This isn’t the last time you’ll hear from us.”

Below are some photos and tweets of student walkouts across Nevada:

Today we walked out for 17 minutes to honor the 17. Today a statement was made! We are the future! #NeverAgainIsNow #neveragain #March14 #march14walkout #EnoughIsEnough #NationalSchoolWalkout #nationalschoolwalkoutday #lasvegas @CimarrOnSpartan @ClarkCountySch pic.twitter.com/DqnwCw0ed7

— Maximus Kehayov (@_Maximoose) March 14, 2018

Today at 10:00 Valley High School is with you!#LasVegas is with you!
Together students unite!
We did not do a walkout but the whole school shut down and was locked in. We remember and honoured the #ParklandSchoolShooting
Victims #GunControlNow#NationalWalkoutDay pic.twitter.com/m2vwrzMFzG

— Johanna Abrego (@JohannaCAbrego) March 14, 2018