Governor Mike DeWine visited Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent on Thursday, April 24 to cut the ribbon on the addition of a major new career center at the school. Several students took the opportunity to protest.
The facility — known as the Engineering and Advanced Technologies Center — started construction in August 2024. It is designed to give Career Technical Education (CTE) students from the Six District Educational Compact a chance to improve their skills and contribute to manufacturing in Ohio.
DeWine touted the $2.3 million grant needed to complete this addition. 
Kent City Schools Superintendent Tom Larkin stated that on Nov. 1, 2023, the district was notified that they were being awarded a “$2.3 million grant to construct a 3,500-square-foot facility.” Larkin said that today was to “celebrate the expansion of this facility” and how this will benefit our students “for decades to come.”
Three of the CTE programs will benefit from this addition, including Computer Aided Design and Engineering Technologies, The Engineering Academy, and Electronics Robotics and Programming, which are all housed at Roosevelt High School in Kent.
Students from the high school organized a walkout in response to DeWine’s visit to protest his policies. Between 20 and 50 students took part.
One of the students at the protest was Sophomore Eliza Lanier. Asked if she felt that the walkout had an impact, Lanier said it “shows the school that we care about [issues] like this.”
Principal Dennis Love released a statement to the school community saying that administrators did not approve of their protest.
“We recognize that the presence of a political figure may elicit a range of emotions within our community. Recently, some students have expressed an interest in walking out of school in protest of today’s visit. We want to be clear: this walk out is not a school-sanctioned event,” Love wrote.
“While we support our students’ rights to express themselves, student safety remains our top priority. Leaving school grounds without authorization during the school day is a disruption to learning and will result in school consequences in accordance with our district policies.
“There are constructive and respectful ways for students to voice their opinions without compromising the safety and structure of the school day. We encourage open dialogue, and our administrators, counselors, and staff are available to listen, support, and guide students through these conversations.”
Love and faculty talked to the students at the walkout, which did not interrupt the ceremony.
Corrections: An earlier version of this article misreported the name of the center and mistakenly noted that Senator Jon Husted was in attendance (he was not).
