ST. LOUIS — St. Louis teenagers who see and hear about gun violence every day are now putting their heads together to do their part. They’re taking ideas to the state capitol.
5 On Your Side covered the first phase of the gun safety initiative a year and a half ago. We're now tracking the program’s next steps. Area students are fighting back against the forces they face when they're not in the school building.
When flashing lights and police tape go up, far too many St. Louis teens have seen it before.
“People say, ‘I have to do this in order to get out the trenches.’ You really don't have to do that. There's other ways to get out,” said 16-year-old Jahlil Latchison, who attends Confluence Preparatory Academy.
He admitted to being familiar with the violence that plagues the community.
"A bunch of people getting shot, all that stuff,” he said.
"Do you feel you have friends or people you’ve met along the way that have kind of taken that path?” 5 On Your Side asked.
“A lot,” he replied.
Dr. Candice Carter-Oliver, CEO of Confluence Academies, said, "When a child has an experience outside of school and they're able to come to school and express that and have a space to even talk about and to really talk about real solutions to help with how we might resolve it, that speaks volumes.”
Students at Confluence Academies and St. Louis Public Schools have partnered for the gun safety initiative. Participants are called Ambassadors for Change. They've already distributed gun locks at school. At a panel last May, they put their heads together to discuss how to do more.
"One of those ideas that was a real 'aha' moment was really wanting to look into policy changing, looking how the policies created in the state of Missouri or even across the country affect them in their own communities,” Confluence official Leslie Muhammad said, referring to gun laws.
Now the ambassadors are preparing to take their message to Jefferson City to learn how to advocate for the changes they want.
"Talking about it is one thing, but doing something about it is another thing,” Latchison said.
The group is planning to hold another panel later this year. School leaders are also preparing to train students how to be peer counselors of sorts, how to go into classrooms and help their own counterparts steer clear of the violence.