--- title: Middle School Students Chant 'Build That Wall' After Trump Victory description: Thursday afternoon, students at Royal Oak Middle School in Michigan began chanting "build that wall!" during their lunch period. canonical: https://time.com/4567812/donald-trump-middle-school-build-wall/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-11T14:29:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:18.593Z article:section: Politics og:title: Middle School Students Chant 'Build That Wall' After Trump Victory og:description: Thursday afternoon, students at Royal Oak Middle School in Michigan began chanting "build that wall!" during their lunch period. og:url: https://time.com/4567812/donald-trump-middle-school-build-wall/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt461399228a0f4062/6988acaaf887dca7cee980c6/donald-trump.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Donald Trump And Mike Pence Campaign Together In Wisconsin og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Middle School Students Chant 'Build That Wall' After Trump Victory twitter:description: Thursday afternoon, students at Royal Oak Middle School in Michigan began chanting "build that wall!" during their lunch period. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt461399228a0f4062/6988acaaf887dca7cee980c6/donald-trump.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Middle Schoolers in Michigan Chant 'Build That Wall' After Trump Victory > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Nov 11, 2016 2:29 PM UTC  Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the W.L. Zorn Arena on Nov. 1, 2016 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the W.L. Zorn Arena on Nov. 1, 2016 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Nov 11, 2016 2:29 PM UTC People all across the country have heard Donald Trump promise to build a wall along the southern border with Mexico, and it seems young students have internalized the idea. Thursday afternoon, students at Royal Oak Middle School in Michigan began chanting “build that wall!” during their lunch period. A [Facebook video](https://www.facebook.com/immigrationtalk.mexicanamerican/videos/vb.100000827232389/1144505275587036/?type=2&theater) of the incident has been viewed more than 8 million times as of this writing. In [a statement](http://www.royaloakschools.org/Core/News/Article/2841/) Thursday, Shawn Lewis-Lakin, superintendent of Royal Oak Schools, acknowledged the “strong emotions and intensity of rhetoric” that resulted from posting the video on social media. “We are committed to providing a safe, secure, and supportive learning environment for all students,” Lewis-Lakin said. “We addressed this incident when it occurred. We are addressing it today. We are working with our students to help them understand the impact of their words and actions on others in their school community.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4567812/donald-trump-middle-school-build-wall/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4567812/donald-trump-middle-school-build-wall/"},"headline":"Middle Schoolers in Michigan Chant 'Build That Wall' After Trump Victory","datePublished":"2016-11-11T14:29:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:18.593Z","description":"Thursday afternoon, students at Royal Oak Middle School in Michigan began chanting \"build that wall!\" during their lunch period.","url":"https://time.com/4567812/donald-trump-middle-school-build-wall/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt461399228a0f4062/6988acaaf887dca7cee980c6/donald-trump.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt461399228a0f4062/6988acaaf887dca7cee980c6/donald-trump.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump And Mike Pence Campaign Together In Wisconsin","caption":"Donald Trump And Mike Pence Campaign Together In Wisconsin","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4567812/donald-trump-middle-school-build-wall/","name":"Middle Schoolers in Michigan Chant 'Build That Wall' After Trump Victory"}}]}] ```