Four months ago, a zoo worker at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden killed the western lowland gorilla Harambe after a child fell in his enclosure. Now, students at WHS are seeking to pay their respects in an unorthodox manner; over 600 people have backed a petition to rename WHS to “Harambe Memorial High School”.

Junior Jonathan Amlong spearheaded the effort by creating a Change.org (an online platform for reform campaigns) petition with the intent of allowing “Harambe’s legacy to be enshrined forever.”

“This petition is trying to remember Harambe and memorialize him in a respectful way so all generations can learn from the mistake that was killing him,” Amlong said.

Amlong created the petition on Sept. 1. It gained momentum the next day when it reached its first goal of 100 signatures, after which an E-Mail was sent to superintendent Lori Vanleer and President Barack Obama.

“The craziest thing to me is how quickly and how many people the petition has reached,” Amlong said. “It really is an incredible thing I never expected to happen.”

While Amlong sees the public as “rightfully outraged” at Harambe’s death, others argued that the cultural obsession holds more weight than mere satire. Cincinnati Zoo Director Thane Maynard told the Associated Press in Aug. that they didn’t feel “amused” by Harambe-related petitions and that they made “moving forward difficulty”. Additionally, some view such efforts as wasteful.

“I can’t believe… people are actually supporting this,” senior Nathan Kleekamp said. “I just didn’t know what to think.”

Students have petitioned WHS in the past. In 2013, alumni Brian Trigg created a petition involving the teaching methods of now retired teacher Jeff Parsons. Both Kleekamp and Amlong see student activism as vital to reforming WHS when necessary.

“If there is a real issue and a petition is created, and it gets lot of signatures, then it definitely should be noticed and taken seriously by whoever the petition is trying to get the attention of, ” Amlong said.