Students Brave Cold, Snow at March for Life

Amid frigid temperatures and snowfall in Washington, D.C., more than a dozen students from Rockhurst University helped lead an estimated half-million people in the annual March for Life Jan. 22.

Despite the conditions, students who participated in the 40th annual pro-life march in Washington, D.C., said their experience was worthwhile.

The Rockhurst students had a unique opportunity, joining about 400 of their peers from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., at the head of the march, along with students from Emporia State University in Emporia, Kan., and Newman University in Wichita, Kan. The event typically draws marchers from across the country and Rockhurst freshman Donald Morris said from the front of the line, he might have had the best view of them.

“Leading the march was a really great experience,” Morris said. “Knowing that we were walking in front of approximately 600,000 other people who all have the passion for life was amazing.”

They had that experience even with about a foot of snow that had fallen on the Washington area and the rest of the Northeast the week of the march. Temperatures on the day of the march had also reached as low as 10 degrees. That did slow them down a bit, but Morris said the group did not let the conditions stop them. In fact, he said it might have actually added to his experience.

“It’s like (the Most Rev. Sean) O’Malley (archbishop of Boston) said, ‘the weather was perfect, the colder it is the better our witness,’” he said.