By Stephanie Malia Cross, Illustration: Nelli Polk/Shutterstock, EdSurge, February 17, 2023
Content warning: gun violence.
The morning of Oct. 24, 2022, I was facilitating a meeting in Charlottesville, Virginia for education and youth development leaders when I got word that my 15-year-old godson had been shot at his high school in St. Louis, where I live. He was alive, seriously wounded and being treated at our local children’s hospital.
One of the meeting attendees was my friend and colleague, Chidi Jenkins. Jenkins is a former teacher and fellow parent who was previously appointed as an advisor on childhood trauma and resiliency to Virginia’s former governor, Ralph Northam. In that role, Jenkins led state efforts to respond to young people and communities most impacted by trauma. After I shared the news and ended the meeting, she drove me to the airport.
During the drive, Jenkins used her experience in education, public safety and health care to help me tell my own children, who are 9 and 12 years old, and who both have a sibling-like relationship with my godson. She suggested that after I spoke to my children myself, I should call the administration at each school and ask them to handle my kids with care.
Comments (0)