Irvington HS Students Host Gun Violence Prevention Symposium

IRVINGTON, NY — Organized by Irvington High School sophomore Sam Roth, dozens of students, parents, law enforcement officials and local elected officials gathered at the Irvington Town Hall Theater on May 23 to discuss ways they can effect change and find solutions to gun violence and mass shootings.

The student-driven symposium, “Gun Violence Prevention: The Conversation We Need to Have,” featured several members of gun violence prevention organizations and prominent speakers, which were recruited by Roth to participate in a panel discussion, according to a district spokesman. Roth – who had received a $1,500 grant from the Irvington Education Foundation’s Innovation Fund to organize the symposium – opened the event with a screening of a student-produced video, in which Irvington High School students discussed gun violence, racial injustice and student activism.

“I came up with the idea for the grant the day after the Las Vegas shooting,” Roth said. “I saw an email one day about the IEF Innovation Fund accepting ideas for grants and had an epiphany that gun violence is just something we don’t think affects us, but very well could. And that especially rung true after the Parkland, Florida, shooting.”

Michael Wolkowitz, a former chair of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, moderated a panel discussion, which featured Roth; Howie Stern, a federal agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Barry Graubart, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America regional director and volunteer Sarah Wynter, who mentored Roth in planning the symposium.

“The goal was to open the conversation with students, as this was a student-guided project and students have been at the forefront of this movement,” Roth said. “The overall goal of the panel was to address this issue from many different perspectives: law enforcement, activists, lobbyists, students. I wanted to create an immersive discussion and we addressed all aspects of gun violence, from mass shootings to domestic violence to suicide to police killings.”

During the symposium, attendees also heard from Mayor Brian Smith, New York State Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, New York State Sen. Shelley Mayer and Irvington High School junior Natalie Kletter, who also received an IEF grant to host a symposium on domestic violence awareness in the fall. Roth said he wanted to provide an opportunity for students and adults to become educated about gun violence and encouraged them to vote for representatives who can change the culture around gun violence.

“We were all motivated by a common goal and value: This issue is not going away, and all Americans need to be educated on this issue when voting,” Roth said. “If there’s a one-issue voter out there right now in these circumstances among the new wave of millennial voters, guns should be that issue.”

Photo caption: Irvington High School sophomore Sam Roth. Photo credit: Irvington Union Free School District.