“It’s not just a picture, It’s being associated with a person who puts his party before his country.”

These were the words of one of the roughly 100 middle school students who refused to stand by House Speaker Paul Ryan for a photo-op during a D.C. school visit.

Ryan is theoretically the 3rd most powerful man in American politics, as he is 3rd inline for the presidency. However that didn’t stop many students turning down the opportunity as they were visiting from New Jersey’s South Orange Middle School on Thursday.

Around half the visiting students stood out of the photo in protest according to reports.

The Huff wrote:

“It’s not just a picture,” student Matthew Malespina told ABC 7 News of his decision not to join Ryan. “It’s being associated with a person who puts his party before his country.”

Fellow student Wendy Weeks said she also opted to not take a photo, telling the Village Green that to have stood next to Ryan would have given the wrong impression of how she feels about him.

“I think that taking the picture represents that you agree with the same political views and I don’t agree with his political views so I chose not to be in it,” said the eight-grader.