Despite being back in school for less than a day, many students across Calgary left class at 11 a.m. sharp on Thursday.

Centennial High School was no exception. For Hunter Hedeman, walking out against the Alberta government’s handling of teachers was necessary.

“This just shows to the government that it’s not just teachers that are angry and fed up with how they’ve been treated and especially with the use of the notwithstanding clause for something that is not an emergency, it was something that could have been fixed months and months ago,” he said.

“Students really care. This is the future of Alberta. if you don’t make them happy, they’re the ones who have the votes and choices in the future.”

Largely promoted through the Instagram account, ab.students.for.teachers, a coordinated walkout was in the works days before students province-wide returned to class Wednesday morning.

Students were told to respectfully leave class, use non-threatening language and protest peacefully, according to the accounts instruction.

Many schools, including Western Canada, St Mary’s and Centennial High Schools, among others, created individual Instagram accounts specifically for the walkout.

Hedeman said that walking out is an effective, non-threatening and impactful way to showcase thousands of voices.

“Walking out is important to me because the purpose is to garner the attention of the government and make them see that students care, students will do something about it, to have their voices heard,” Hedeman said, carrying a sign that said “Our education, our future.”

“It’s not a teacher problem; everyone across Alberta cares.”

Downtown, students from across the city gathered at City Hall in support of their teachers.

Halle Urquhart, a Grade 12 student from James Fowler High School, said that the provincial government needs to get its mind back in control.

“They can’t just cherry-pick what our charter of rights and freedoms is,” she said.

“We need opportunities that education is going to grant us, and they are throwing education down the drain, all because they want to save money.”

Similarly, Julianna Marques said that she is upset with what is happening in our province and teachers need to be acknowledged for the work they do.

“Like lots of my teachers, since I was growing up, like in elementary, junior high, even now in high school, they volunteer so much of their time to help us out, some of them arrive at school earlier than they are supposed to to help us with our tests or to give us more time to write assessments,” she said.

“They are working really hard and it makes me really sad to know that they are not being appreciated for that, and then, instead of supporting them, the province decided to silence their voices using the notwithstanding clause.”

Marques, who is from Brazil, said her home country has tried to privatize education, causing the public education system to collapse.

“Lots of kids don’t have access to school, and you see criminal rates increase and all of that. So, you have to take care of it, because this is such a strong province, and it has such a strong education system, and you have to protect it. You have to invest in it,” she said.

“For teachers, I really want them to feel supported right now. I want them to look around and be like, even though that’s happening, the students are standing with us. It’s not just students, as we were walking here, lots of people were honking their horns, and it’s that idea that we’re all coming together.”

Positivity and hope are essential to making change, according to Marques.

Students anonymously share strike-related opinions on social media

In the midst of an unprecedented teachers’ strike, Diya Kunisetty, a Grade 11 Student at Henry Wise Wood High School, felt her friends and classmates were without a voice in strike talks.

“There was this constant feeling of uncertainty; no one really knew what was going to happen next. Teachers were so frustrated, and students were anxious, especially Grade 12 students,” she said.

“Everybody was stuck waiting and nobody really had an outlet to express their emotions and feelings and everything that they thought about the strike.”

With some extra time on her hands, Kunisetty decided to create your.voice.matters.ab, an Instagram account dedicated to sharing anonymous submissions from students across Alberta, focused on all angles of the strike.

In one post, a 14-year-old from Calgary said they didn’t get why the government wasn’t understanding the teachers’ needs.

“Their approach to problems seems like they don’t give much care, essentially throwing money at the problem and not accounting for the struggle of high class sizes and unpaid work done outside of school, which is basically one whole side of teaching,” the submission reads.

“I hope they come to realize, it’s not only just about the pay, but many other different issues.”

Since its creation on Oct. 20, the account had amassed more than 90,000 views, 200 followers and many submissions from students ages 6-18. 

Next steps for Kunisetty and her team include compiling these letters into a report called “The Your Voice Matters Report: Youth Priorities for Alberta” and sharing it with the premier’s office, the education minister, and local MLAs. 

Return to school felt off: students

When returning to school on Wednesday morning, Hedeman said it felt like the first day back after summer, but with low morale. 

“You could obviously tell the teachers that they were a bit exhausted because of all the stuff they have to deal with in the strike,” he said.

“Teachers obviously wanted the strike; they wanted to make classroom conditions better for the future and have fair pay. But obviously that kills teachers, because they also love their students and they want the best for their kids as well.”

Kunisetty said that the air at Wise Wood was thick with tension. 

“I’ve never felt something like that in a school atmosphere before. It just felt like people just didn’t know what to expect. It was just such a different atmosphere than we were normally used to in school,” she said,

“Usually we’re so comfortable, so happy, but it just felt a little different. We were still happy to be there, but a lot of us definitely felt bad for the teachers, because they were being forced back to work, even if they didn’t get 100 per cent of what they wanted.”