A Vashon Island High School student on Monday afternoon read aloud a letter addressed to President-elect Donald Trump.

“We of Vashon Island High School are concerned about what you represent,” the student read. “Today, we walk out of our classes in protest of the message of hatred that many of your supporters represent. We fear that the progress that America has made in the past eight years will be stifled.”

Along with the reading of a letter of support to Bernie Sanders that stated, “We will always be standing with you,” roughly 60 VHS students walked out of class at 1:30 p.m. Monday to protest Trump’s election.

“I don’t agree with any of the values he (Trump) ran his campaign on, or his platform,” VHS freshman Duncan Barlow said. “I don’t get why he’s coming from a place of such hate when the country needs something to unify it.”

The vocal group holding signs such as “Not my president,” “Nasty women against Trump” and “Hate doesn’t unify a divided nation” chanted “Not my President” and “We reject the President-elect” as it made its way from the high school campus to the post office in town to mail the letters. The group later decided to mail them after the protest and then continued on to the main intersection in town where supportive passersby honked horns and took photos while others shook their heads.

VHS Principal Danny Rock sent an email to parents earlier that day stating that the protest was not what he wanted and that students would face academic consequences, such as unexcused absences, but that the students are legally allowed to protest peacefully. His email followed one sent Sunday by Vashon Island School District Superintendent Michael Soltman which addressed the election and the island schools’ role in dealing with its results. He said district teachers and administrators have had reports of racist and sexist comments made between students and Latino students reporting feeling scared. He said in his email that the school district remains “steadfast in (its) commitment to respectful engagement, to inclusion of all, and to nurturing a caring and compassionate culture in our schools and community.”

Hundreds of other students from high schools and the University of Washington conducted similar walkouts Monday.