In a stance with the April 14 national March for Science, over one hundred people gathered in front of Fullerton City Hall for a public demonstration which included a rally and a march around the area near city hall and the Fullerton Public Library.
Despite the event being a lower turnout in comparison to last year’s event, speakers included Fullerton Mayor Doug Chaffee, city residents and some representatives from Fullerton College.
“Science is important. We need to recognize the importance of science and our public policies need to take into account sound science,” said Mark Shapiro, physics professor at Cal State University of Fullerton and an organizer of the event.
The day’s events began with a number of various speakers addressing the crowd such as Chaffee, Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva and Parks and Recreation commission member Jose Trinidad Castaneda.
Of the messages given by the speakers, Quirk-Silva’s focused heavily on the impact education has on teaching the future generation about natural sciences.
Quirk-Silva stated that the city of Fullerton is an education community that has over 60,000 total students enrolled between FC and CSUF.
“I think Fullerton really is looking towards the future in understanding we have to not only be protective of our environment, but we have to look at facts and science based evidence to make decisions,” Quirk-Silva stated.
Following the guest speakers, Jeff Rosenblum, another organizer for the event, led the crowd in a number of chants to get everyone ready to march and make their voices heard and their signs seen.
“It was beautiful to see the whole city of Fullerton come together on something as big as science,” Willie Holmes II stated.
Holmes, who helped organize the event admired the ability for the people to “put away differences” and unite for the day.
Of the attendants there, a representative from Students for Equitable Sustainability was present.
“I think that it’s an extremely timely event,” said Audrey Waight, founder and president of SES. “In a world where everything seems like it’s going upside down, it makes most sense to bring together the local community to build ourselves up”.
Along with one of the club’s student representatives, its adviser, geography professor Aline Gregorio, took part in the event for the second time.
“This is my second time marching for science and I think it’s an important time for us to speak up about evidence based decisions,” Gregorio said.
With people taking to the streets to make their voices heard, the sights are set on ensuring a better future for generations to come.
“We want this march to go as long as we can. It doesn’t stop with me, it doesn’t stop with my other colleagues that are millennials,” Holmes II added. “We want this to go for the next 40 years and [for] there [to] always be a March for Science in Fullerton”.