Chicago's Hidden Gems: Middle school student honored for essay on violence
CHICAGO (CBS) – A 13-year-old Chicago middle school student put her sadness over youth violence into words and won national recognition for her writing.
CBS 2's Joe Donlon introduced us to one of Chicago's Hidden Gems.
"There could be some random person walking down the street and you could get robbed, kidnapped, shot and you just don't know why," said Summer Bell.
It might be hard to take in, but these are the words of a 13-year-old girl.
"Maybe that person could just be having a bad day and just feel like 'Oh well,' and just take an innocent person's life," she said.
Summer is an eighth grader at Eberhart Elementary School in Chicago Lawn, and she knows what she's talking and writing about. She was one of 100 finalists in the "Do the Write Thing" challenge, an initiative of the National Campaign to Stop Violence.
"It gives students an opportunity to use their voice and their words in a way I don't think we often give," said Robin Koelsch, of Communities In Schools of Chicago.
Students are asked to write about how violence in their neighborhoods affects their everyday lives: the fear, the anger, the grief.
"It could be a poem," Koelsch said. "It could be lyrics. It could be a song. It could be anything that you want. It could be an essay. It could be a letter."
Communities In Schools of Chicago is the local nonprofit that helps facilitate the challenge. Koelsch, chief partnership engagement officer for CIS of Chicago, said students are asked to think about three things.
- What are the causes of violence?
- How has violence impacted you?
- What do you think you should do about it?
For her essay, Summer related the story of a beloved cousin who died by gun violence a decade ago.
"My older cousin Eva had run out on Christmas Day with her then-boyfriend without permission," Summer wrote. "We called her to ask her to come home. No matter how much I begged, she kept repeating the same thing. 'Nothing is going to happen Summer. I will be OK.' Later that evening, she was found dead in the snow with a gunshot wound to the head."
Donlon: "Was it hard to write?"
Summer: "Not really, because I had a lot of inspiration for it. So I kinda knew what I was going to write about."
Donlon: "Do you think it helped you to write about things you hadn't talked about much before?"
Summer: "Yes, because it kind of made me feel safer and helped me get a few things off my chest, stuff I kept inside and I don't really talk about often."
Koelsch added, "It strikes a chord with all of us when we're able to truly listen to the people that are being directly influenced and impacted by the problems in our society. They have solutions. They are experts of their communities. It is our job to listen."
Donlon: "What is something about violence that you wanted to get across with this essay that you think people might misunderstand?"
Summer: "People may misunderstand the clear warning signs and warnings of violence. People give you clear signs, and warnings about when they're about to do something very dangerous or violent.
"You need to pay attention to people more. Stop being so desensitized to [it]. It's a serious problem."
Part of being a finalist in the challenge meant heading to Washington, D.C., in July where students were honored at a recognition dinner. They got to read from their work onstage, visit the U.S. Supreme Court building and have their work bound in a leather book to be housed at the Library of Congress forever.
It's a big deal.
"These students are not even in high school and already they are published authors, having their works in the largest library in the world," Koelsch said.
While it's a thrill for Summer, her dad Greg said he's over the moon, not just at his daughter's success, but her compassion.
"She just started writing one day," Greg said. "Once she laid it all out on the table for me, I was almost in tears."
He added, "Proud is probably the understatement of the year."
Summer said she knows for some people, violence seems like the only way to solve a problem. For them, she has a message:
"You can ruin your life by turning to violence," she said. "You can ruin other people's lives and those people's families' lives. Even the people around you that you might not know."
Jaylen Trice of Woodson Elementary School was also honored in D.C. He expressed his feeling about youth violence in a poem.
