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GREENSBORO — They’re teenagers, kids really.

They stood last week at the downtown corner of Spring and Washington, holding signs with bumper-sticker messages they wrote themselves.

Cars honked, parents passed out fliers, and students lined both sides of the street. Together, they turned a busy corner near the Bryan YMCA  into a tiny pep rally of less than two dozen participants.

They wanted to be heard, especially students and alumni. They stood in front of their school, Weaver Academy, because they wanted to save a program they say nurtured their creativity and very identity.

Many had never spoken out or taken a stand, let alone held a lime-green sign on a hot sidewalk. Plus, many wondered if it would really work. But they thought about the hours, the years of practicing their instrument in isolation.

So, they came, this small music-minded crew. They wanted to rescue Weaver’s tiny strings program from North Carolina’s big budgetary ax.

“The best we can do is hope,’’ said Ally Cogan, a rising sophomore at Weaver who plays cello. “Whether we like it or not, I’m not 18. I can’t vote whether the program lasts or not. So, this is the only thing I can do.’’

Rachel Wilder was no stranger to protests. She had driven to Washington three times to protest the Iraq war and had marched through downtown Greensboro twice to advocate for gay rights.

But this time, it was personal. Wilder had studied piano at Weaver before she graduated last year and chose to study psychology at UNC-Asheville. She didn’t want to lose what she loved.

Her boyfriend, Stephen Phillips, felt the same way. He studied guitar at Weaver. He enjoyed it so much that after graduation last year he auditioned — and was accepted — to study classical guitar at UNC School of the Arts.

To Phillips, Weaver’s strings program was his program.

So on Tuesday afternoon, Phillips and Wilder stood together. Holding the same sign, “No Child Left Behind?’’

“The American government was created by the people, for the people,’’ Phillips said, “and if you believe the government doesn’t speak for you anymore, you have to speak out.

“Ask yourself, 'Why protest?’ Well, I say, 'Why not?’ ’’

Like many states, North Carolina doesn’t have enough money because the recession has stolen jobs, killed companies, beat up consumer confidence, and terrorized the collective psyche of entire communities.

So, a main funding  source in North Carolina — money from  taxes, ranging from sales to corporate income — has started to dry up.

It ain’t pretty. Principals and school officials statewide have had the unenviable task of cutting dozens of programs and thousands of teaching positions. In Guilford County, that meant eliminating more than 200 teaching spots.

At Weaver, that meant losing the strings program and James DeFiglia, its tenured teacher. His students call him “Figgy.’’

“I have worked so hard to get into this school,’’ Brandon Reinbold, a double bass player and incoming freshman, said as he held his sign, “Bring Back Figgy!’’ “Just the blood, sweat and tears. And now, with the strings cut, I just feel deceived.’’

Less than two weeks ago, Weaver’s principal Pete Kashubara announced he cut the strings program because, according to parents he talked to, it had the lowest number of students: 12.

Parents, students and alumni didn’t want that to happen. So, this group of people who really didn’t know one another mobilized.

They contacted everyone from musicians to school officials to the music store down the street and created a petition called “Save  the Strings” on Facebook.

And last Tuesday, before a meeting with Kashubara, they took to the sidewalk and toted signs.

Today, the strings program is back. Kashubara, with the help of district education officials, found a way to maintain the strings program — with an allocation for a ¼-time teaching position.

Not a full-time position. And not “Figgy,’’ a teacher who started Weaver’s strings program five years ago and turned it into one of the best in the state.

So on Tuesday night during a school board meeting, alumni, students and parents will speak out once again. They want “Figgy’’ to have his job back, and they’ll show their support once again by holding a collection of signs.

And staging an impromptu performance.

Why? Well, students say, why not?

“I was kind of cynical about the whole thing at first,’’ said student cellist  Cogan, referring to last week’s sidewalk protest. “I kept thinking, 'How is this going to help? Who is going to care?’

“But I realized sometimes you have to have a little faith.’’

Contact Jeri Rowe at 373-7374 or jeri.rowe@news-record.com