A group of Upper Peninsula high school students will take part in a worldwide March For Our Lives event in Marquette on Saturday.

The students are joining hands with other U.P. schools to ask for legislative action to stop gun violence in U.S. schools.

Student organizers say the march, one of over 800 worldwide, is intended to echo an event in Washington D.C. set by student survivors of the Feb. 14 massacre in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead.

As of Wednesday night, there were 837 events registered worldwide on the March For Our Lives website.

The goal is “to call on lawmakers to make students’ lives and safety a priority and end gun violence and mass shootings in our schools,” a press release from the Marquette event states.

Marquette residents and students are expected to gather at the Marquette Commons at noon for a march on Washington Street from Front Street to Fourth Street and then return to the Commons for a rally.

“We are demanding a change in school safety,” lead march organizer and Marquette Senior High School student Clara Biolo Thompson told The Mining Journal. “Something needs to be done. We are just standing up and saying enough.”

She said march participants will have a chance to register to vote as well as sign Promote the Vote petitions to get a proposal on the ballot in November, and three students from MSHS and one from Kingsford High School will speak during the rally.

Once again, we commend these students for standing up and making their voices heard — both at the local and national level. These kids are recognizing that the future is in their hands, and the only way to shape it is by speaking out.

Any good parent would want their children to let them know if they were afraid of something, or felt something needed to change — regardless of which side of the aisle they align themselves with. We believe these kids deserve the opportunity to do just that, and we are very proud of them for taking action and mobilizing. While they may be young, these children are worthy of our respect — because while they could have sat idly by and watched as nothing changed, they have instead decided to raise their voices and say, “Enough is Enough!”

For more information on the event, visit www.marchforourlives.com or visit the March for our Lives – Marquette Facebook page.