This story has been updated to reflect an error in the location of the event. Echo apologizes for the mistake. 

Approximately 100 students gathered in the old gym at 11 a.m. Nov. 10 to show support for students affected by recent events in the Champlin Park school district, according to Grade Level Coordinator (GLC) Derrick Turner.

According to the Star Tribune, two girls’ volleyball players were suspended following the release of a video involving Champlin students allegedly rapping a song with deragatory language.

Turner said they held the demonstration to raise awareness to the issues surrounding Champlin Park as well as allow students and faculty to express their solidarity.

“We just wanted to let the other school that went through the situation they went through this last week, let them know that they have support from people outside of their school district,” Turner said. “I just felt like the school didn’t have a lot of support from their district and it was a very conscious thing for the kids here to say ‘hey we support you,’ from where we are to where you are.”

Turner said he feels the demonstrations that took place in Champlin Park were disregarded by the district’s administration.

“The school did a protest I think yesterday or Wednesday,” Turner said. “Personally, I love what I’ve seen as far as the protest, but I didn’t feel like the students of color at that school district at that school were supported fully by the staff or the people of higher power,” Turner said.  

According to one of the students leading the demonstration, senior Doreen Moranga, she along with senior Ambriya Reese spread word of the event after GLCs Derrick Turner and David Lewis notified them of the events at Champlin Park.

“I didn’t know anything about it until our GLCs Derrick and David came up to me,” Moranga said. “They told me what happened, and then they told me they wanted to do something, and they thought I’d be a good person to get it going.”

Reese said after Turner and Lewis told her what happened in Champlin Park she was surprised at the event and at other students’ reactions.

“I was honestly really shocked that someone would do something like that. Especially in this day and age, I didn’t really think that I would encounter something like this in my life,” Reese said. “I was shocked to see that (her friends) were defending her actions and behavior because personally I don’t feel like doing something like that is even something that you should try to defend.”

Reese said she feels students should continue to think about and discuss the issues brought to light at the demonstration.

“It shouldn’t be a thing where after a few days, with this situation specifically, a few days shouldn’t pass and then it’s irrelevant, we should still be talking about it and having conversations about it and stuff like that,” Reese said.

Administration was unavailable for comment.

Echo reporters Abby Intveld and Emma Kempf also contributed to this story.