By SIMONE JOINER

FERRIDAY — After a classmate was killed in a shooting last month, Ferriday High School students decided to take on the issue of gun violence and are planning an anti-gun rally, officials said.

Ferriday Mayor Sherrie McMahon said students reached out to her recently asking her to help them organize an anti-gun event.

“I met with them, and they brought their principal,” McMahon said. “We talked about what they wanted to do.”

McMahon said the students plan to hold a rally consisting of prayers and student speeches at 2 p.m. Feb. 9 at Ferriday Hall located behind Henry’s Big House on 1st Street in Ferriday.

The students, McMahon said, have decided to call themselves the Junkyard Dogs Coalition and plan to blanket the town with orange, which has become a symbol of anti-gun violence, by passing out orange bracelets.

McMahon said the students were spurred into action after a classmate, Da’John L. Mitchell, was shot to death Dec. 15 in Jonesville.

“The fact that we’re talking about it out loud can make a difference,” McMahon said of gun violence. “I think talking about this problem is like putting oxygen on a cut. The only way to heal it is to give it air.”

McMahon said she believes the rally is a good starting point for the community discussion about gun violence.