Students at the Foothills Composite High School staged a walkout today (Nov. 25.)

Participants called for a wide number of changes including improved supports for mental health and sexual assault survivors, more severe consequences for sexual harassment, as well as revisions to sexual education to focus more on consent and LGBTQ issues.

It comes following similar protests at several high schools in Calgary over the last few weeks.

Participants stood outside one of the school's entrances, many with signs, and intermittently chanted slogans which included 'love is love,' 'we want change,' and 'more about raping, less about vaping," (criticizing a more severe response to vaping than to sexual assault.)

One of the event's organizers Elle Lomas says she and many of her classmates often feel unsafe at school, and many wouldn't know what to do if they face sexual harassment.

"I was talking to my friends and I didn't know what a rape kit was. Women and anyone dealing with these issues aren't getting the resources they need to be able to handle abusive relationships and sexual assault or rape. Going around the school and hearing everyone's stories was really a wake-up call for me."

She also struggled with depression in her grade 10 year and struggled to find help at school.

Lomas says she loves her high school and wants to create an even more inclusive space for her classmates as well as future students.

"My little sister, she's in grade 10 and she goes here. I want her to feel safe, I want her to get the things that I didn't get, I want her to receive that help, that education I had to search for myself."

She consulted with some trusted members of the faculty prior to the event and says she felt comfortable and supported in organizing it.

According to Lomas, the school has already indicated they'll be adding three new breathing rooms, which are spaces for students to decompress and have some quiet time.

Overall, she's pleased with the response from the school's faculty.

"Most of them have been so supportive, just the fact that they're out here right now making sure it doesn't get violent, making sure everybody is contained, is incredible. I'm so grateful for that because this is such an important place to me. The fact that there's already been change that's happening and the fact that they're willing to listen is so amazing to me. I hope that it continues."

Principal Vincent Hunter was present for the duration of the protest.

With regard to the issues the students were advocating for, he says there's a lot at play.

"A lot of these things we feel we're already trying to address. It's tricky in a school with 1,300 students, they don't always necessarily hear or know, and that'd fall on me if I'm not communicating enough, all the things we're trying to do."

When it comes to changes to sexual education, Hunter says that kind of thing is dictated by the curriculum.

Overall though, Hunter says he'd like to see conversations like this elevated, and he's glad students are making their voices heard.

"This is their school, and I truly mean that. It's not my school, it's not the staff's school, it's not Foothills School Division's school. The students who live in this community and choose to attend this school, it's their school. So how do we embrace their ideas, their desires, their hopes, their dreams? That has to be our focus."

For Composite student Payton MacEachern, it was an incredibly heartening experience.

"I'm so happy about it. It took a lot of work to get a lot of people to do it but I think it's what we need to see. This is actually starting to see a lot of change for our school and our community, which a lot of people need. I love it, it makes me so happy."