By Eva Wilton
Executive Editor

Among the sea of pink pussy hats, students rallied at the youth-driven, March for Our Future. The event was held exactly one year after President Trump’s inauguration. In downtown Montpelier, activists walked carrying an array of posters such as: “the real shithole himself,” “the future is female,” “Melania is an immigrant,” and “climate change is real” addressing the concerns of some citizens in a Trump era.

Of the estimated 3,000 people who attended the march 60 were St. Michael’s College students.

“Hopefully there will be more representation of more groups in the future,” said Elaine Roman ’18, who attended the march. She said that she wished she saw more students, faculty, and men from St. Michael’s College.

“It was a little bit of a whitewashed event but, I was impressed to see that there was a wide diversity among the speakers including a non-binary person and Muslim girls,” Roman said.

She added that the speakers were all under the age of 18 and included Muslim Girls Making Change, A2VT, and Ethan Sonneborn, a 13-year-old running for Vermont governor.

Last year, Roman rallied at the Women’s March in Washington D.C. with friends. She distinctly recalls yelling one phrase that moved her. “I’ve never heard that many people chant “black lives matter” at one time in unison and it was moving. I started to cry,” Roman said.

At the recent Montepelier march, “Show us what democracy looks like? This is what democracy looks like!” echoed among the narrow streets.

The Center for Women and Gender organized a charter bus to transport students from campus to the march.

“This year the march had a different twist with a focus to acknowledge that the youth is a powerful voice that deserves to be heard by all. We need to listen to them and work alongside them on these issues,” said Gabriella Elmoussaoui, the center for women and gender coordinator, who attended last year’s Women’s March in Montpelier and this year’s March for our Future.