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Grand Rapids student going to gun summit

A sophomore at Grand Rapids University Preparatory Academy is invited to a student-led gun violence summit in Washington, D.C.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - A Grand Rapids student is joining teenagers and teachers from around the country to discuss gun violence.

Chanel Hill is a sophomore at Grand Rapids University Preparatory Academy. Last year she impressed the Mayor and Grand Rapids city leaders with a speech about immigration and building walls.

Now she is one of about 130 students, including survivors of school shootings, invited to Washington to discuss ways to make schools safer.

“I feel like we can make things better than what they are,” she says.

Grand Rapids University Preparatory Academy teacher Wendy Winston and about two-dozen other educators will also attend. But says it’s a student led summit.

“There are students coming from all over the nation with different backgrounds and different experiences,” she says. “To take ownership of the gun violence and help fix it because they are the ones being affected.”

Participants say they will bring the best ideas back home and involve other students, community members and political leaders in the search for gun violence solutions.

“They can decide as a group what are the best ideas for solutions,” says Winston. “This is a step and I think it is a chance.”

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