By Olivia Peskin

My name is Olivia Peskin and I am an eleventh-grade student at the Saint Andrew’s
School in Boca Raton, Florida. Ever since my mom gave me a bullet-proof backpack in middle
school, I have been passionate about advocating for ways to improve school safety protocols
in hopes of preventing future tragedies. My freshman year I brought a chapter of Students
Demand Action to Saint Andrew’s School, and I am currently in the process of creating a
program to train teachers to recognize the signs of potentially violent students.

In my opinion, a school should be the most secure place that a child can go. Their
biggest concern should be learning as much as possible, and making friends along the way.
Students of any age should never have to worry about being placed in dangerous situations
and parents should never have to worry about their children’s safety while at school. This
absolutely can’t be our new normal!

I believe that students should be directly involved in fixing this national crisis. After all,
we are the ones who worry day in and day out that our school will be next. Our voices are the
most impactful and absolutely must be heard! While I realize that this is an extremely
complex, sensitive, and political issue that does not have a simple solution, I also realize that
there are less complex things that can easily be done to minimize injuries and fatalities in the
event of school violence.

We now know that there could have been fewer injuries and fatalities in past school
shootings had staff or students been able to notify the police faster. Improving police
response time in violent situations can literally save lives.

Another idea to help reduce fatalities in the event of a school shooting is to teach
members of the school community how to tend to the victims until help arrives. There are
some simple things that can be done to gunshot wounds in the short term in order to prevent
fatalities. Training the members of a school community how to do these things may save lives.

While I realize that in a perfect world we shouldn’t have to take these measures, it is
our sad reality that we just can’t afford to ignore.