ST. LOUIS — Some St. Louis students are on a mission to combat gun violence by fighting for tougher laws. A group of teens from Confluence Academies is just back from Jefferson City, Missouri, where they made their case to state lawmakers.
It’s something they asked for. School leaders made it happen and it led to real-life lessons that sometimes have to be learned outside of school grounds.
Being a voice for change is sometimes prompted by your own reality.
"A lot of my life is surrounded by ‘oh, I heard gunshots. Maybe I should get down. Maybe I should turn the lights off’ and it should not be like that,” said 10th grader Safiya Austin-El.
It's why she joined several of her classmates in taking a trip to the state capitol last Tuesday.
"Kids walking around with guns stuff like that … it's very not safe,” 12th grader Darius Davis said.
They want tougher gun laws to crack down on violence. To prepare for the big moment, they practiced how to make an elevator pitch beforehand.
"Because they have so little time to actually talk to people, you want to get straight to the point. Hi, my name is. This is what I'm here for. This is what I care about,” Austin-El added.
The meaningful conversations led to lessons learned outside of the classroom.
"I got an understanding that there's two sides to it. It's not 'oh there's gun violence everywhere’ … so when we’re trying to pass these laws, we got to find some balance between them,” 10th grader Jayvonte Hughes said.
Sen. Steven Roberts (D-Missouri) invited them into the Senate Chamber.
"It was very eye opening for me to see how well informed they were and passionate for the issues I’ve been fighting for here at the state legislature,” the Democrat said.
Although there doesn't appear to be a compromise this session for the laws the students want to see, they have a plea to state lawmakers as they look ahead.
"Actually come out to the communities that's being affected by gun violence and see what we mean when we say this is an issue,” Austin-El said.
The visit to the capitol was the latest in a series of gun safety initiatives Confluence Academies has engaged students in. It's part of a partnership with St. Louis Public Schools.