![Reaching out. Christopher Lesh, student at Central Catholic High School, serves ice cream during the event on March 2, 2025, at the Portland waterfront. Central Catholic was just one of the schools that sent student volunteers out to cook, prepare, dish, and serve food. Interact club’s co-president Rachel Gerber, junior, plated the food during the event. “I like how direct the contact is,” Gerber said. “You’re there [and] you’re just doing something good. It’s simple, it’s easy, you can feel good about it.”](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/interact-1-edited-1200x744.jpg)
On March 24, over 50 protesters lined up in front of Tesla in Portland. Protesters gather to spread awareness on boycotting Tesla. Tesla is owned by Elon Musk, who has become a very controversial figure in recent news. After Donald Trump was elected, Musk received an important role as one of the leaders of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Though citizens didn’t elect Elon Musk, he has made significant changes within our government, hence why the people of the United States are practicing their right to protest. Judy Rimbey, 85 years old, joined the Portland protest.
“If I just stay at home and listen to the news, I fret and I worry, but I’m not alone. All of these folks are with me,” Rimbey said. “We have done this before in the 60s.”
Rimbey was a student at San Francisco protesting against the Vietnam War in the 1960s, and has noticed very similar patterns between then and now.
“Police were on the street trying to get us off the streets, and every college campus,” Rimbey said.
She compares her experiences as a student in the 60s in school protests to other current student protesters who are having that right taken away. A known student who dealt with this now is Mahmoud Kalil, a student at Columbia University who was detained for protesting.
“We can be proud because they [Donald Trump and DOGE] don’t represent us,” Rimbey said. In other words, for people not to be discouraged or ashamed of the government because in democracy, people represent.
Similar to Rimbey, Karen Savenan, another protester in the Tesla boycott, was also an active protester for Vietnam and women’s rights during the 60s.
“I feel like we are living in an upside-down world, scared to death for our children and grandchildren, but if I don’t do something, you know what is going to happen. You have to at least try and get out there and make a difference,” Saven said.
In contrast, a younger audience, Lilith Martin Cooper, is in third grade. Cooper had come to protest with her grandma, someone whom she looked up to. Cooper’s grandma, Michelle Bartolomei, is helping her granddaughter’s dreams of being an activist.
“She told me she wanted to be an activist, and I told her, ‘Honey, you’re already an activist,’” Bartolomei said.
Another young activist, Alex Handy, student at Rex Putnam High School, stands against Trump’s decisions with Musk.
“I am here for my future and my generation, to make us have a voice,” Handy said.
Handy, being the only student from Rex Putnam attending this protest, hopes to see a change in her school.
“There are no organizations in our school to help with this issue, but I really hope that we can one day,” Handy said.
