A rally was held in the quad at lunch on Wednesday, May 22. The rally honored Jose Luis Quinones, a student from Woodside who was killed late Sunday, May 19.

The activity was put together by Shelley Bustamante, the leader of Students Offering Support.

Students handed out orange ribbons to support stopping violence and there were posters hung in the quad with saying such as “Rest in Peace Jose” and “Stop the Violence.”

According to Guardian.co.uk, 68 percent of murders in California are due to fire arms.

During the rally, students sang the song “Imagine” by John Lennon. Fine Tuning, Carlmont’s all men acapella group,  performed “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen.

Tori Shanefelter, a freshman who attended the rally, said, “I did not know the guy personally but it was really emotional and sad because everyone is so heartbroken about it.”

Other students from East Palo Alto who knew Quinones read a poem that he wrote in eighth grade during the rally.

Quinones wrote, “People think I’m a gangster; Because of my hair and clothes. People think I’m a bad kid, but I’m just an ordinary kid trying to survive the streets of EPA. I’m going to be different. I’m going to change what people think about East Palo Alto!”

Sophomore and member of Fine Tuning Marco Sevilla said, “It was a really important event representing anti-violence and it is good for us to recognize that all of the violence should stop.”

This rally was just one step toward the battle of ending violence both locally and worldwide.