Beaverton Students Attend Gun Violence Summit In D.C.

BEAVERTON, OR — Beaverton High School Campus Supervisor Brad Harvey is taking a proactive approach to addressing school shootings and gun violence. This weekend, Harvey and three BHS students are traveling to Washington, D.C., to join more than 100 students and educators from across the nation at the Student Gun Violence Summit.

Inspired by student advocates from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and other young victims of gun violence in the U.S., the summit will give students and educators an opportunity to review together existing student plans to reduce gun violence from around the country and collectively produce a single "Students' Bill of Rights" on school safety as well as a corresponding action plan, Beaverton School District officials said.

Only 100 students from across the country were invited to attend the summit, and Harvey is bringing three from Beaverton alone: BHS seniors Camila Mejia and Cameron Monfared and sophomore River Rain.

After asking if anyone wanted to go, all three students reportedly emailed Harvey. Their messages were so powerful that Harvey asked whether he could just bring all three together. The selection officials in D.C. agreed "all three were perfect," Harvey told Patch.

When asked why they wanted to attend, both Mejia and Rain said they see it as an opportunity to make a real change and have their voices heard.

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"It's so easy to feel helpless when it comes to these kinds of issues because it's difficult to feel like anything you can do is really making a difference," Rain told Patch in an email. "This trip gives me an opportunity to really do something, to get out there in a big way, to change the world and fix things. Gun violence is a big issue for me, especially gun violence in schools, and I want to do everything I can to help stop it."

Harvey believes all students should take an active role in their education and school to ensure they're provided a safe environment for undistracted learning. He also hopes both he and the students come back to Beaverton with a better understanding of the issues affecting schools everywhere, with the intent to offer their new insight toward building a better, safer Beaverton School District.

"I would like to get more input from other students, to hear what they think could work in a situation like this and how they would like this problem to be handled before it actually happens," Mejia said. "This is a problem that we might disregard until it actually happens in our school, but it’s better to take action as soon as possible because the more we wait the more likely it is a tragedy could happen."

Both Mejia and Rain invite their peers to come chat with them after their return so they can help spread the message they receive at the summit, they said.

"I encourage anyone with strong feelings about this issue to get involved," Rain said. "There are ways to help, and every voice with an opinion needs to be heard if we're going to work this out and make schools safe again."

Top image: (From left) River Rain, Camila Mejia, Cameron Monfared, and Brad Harvey, via Kathryn Robinson/Beaverton High School.