Most essays students write have only a few readers: the teacher or maybe a classmate or two. In April, sophomore Devin Briesch took his essay about gun violence to Springfield, Ill. and read it to several elected representatives.

Many students who have taken English Literature A are familiar with the manifesto assignment, where students are tasked with writing their own man-
ifesto inspired by author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s book “Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions.”

Briesch chose to write his essay about gun violence for English teacher Mika Yamamoto’s class. She encouraged students to pursue their passions, asking them to write a 500-word essay about “what they want to change and what lights their fire.”

Faced with this difficult undertaking, Briesch initially did not know what to write and think so critically about. However, it did not take long for him to remember an event that resonated with him: the online shooting threat against the school that took place on Feb. 14, 2024. While the threat turned out not to be credible, it disrupted the school day and caused concern throughout the school and community.

Briesch noted that threats and safety drills are now far more common than they were a generation ago. “Back then, people wouldn’t have to do so many school shooting drills,” he said. “Now, it’s become such a normalized thing. My parents said they never had to do stuff like that.”

After three to four days of writing about the experience that he and other students had during that shooting threat, he presented it to Yamamoto, who found his paper meaningful and impactful to the broader community. “I think the teacher’s job is to always be thinking of how we can help empower student voices,” Yamamoto said. “The more space we make for students, the more space they will make for other students.”

She shared the essay with Jenna Leving Jacobson, a leader of the Illinois state chapter of the gun violence prevention program Moms Demand Action, who was also recently elected to the Oak Park Village Board.

Jacobson began working with Moms Demand Action in 2017 to fight against gun violence, especially in schools.“Gun violence doesn’t affect us all equally, which is why survivors must be at the center if our work,” she said.

After learning about Briesch’s essay, Jacobson invited him to join her and her group at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, where they hoped to meet with legislative members and present two bills Moms Demand Action has been working to push forward.

Jacobson suggested that Devin could present his paper to senators and representatives to show how gun violence had affected him and his community. “I welcome everyone to this work and movement, and student voices are incredibly important and valuable,” she said.

Briesch agreed to travel with Jacobson and Moms Demand Action to Springfield. When they got to the Capitol, the atmosphere was busy with multiple advocacy groups filling the hallways, and legislators holding meetings.

Despite the many demands on the legislators’ time, Briesch met with several of them. “I got to speak with a bunch of representatives,” he said. “I would say, ‘Here’s the article I wrote about my experience with gun violence.’”

Specifically, he met and discussed his ideas with three Democratic Illinois representatives: Joyce Mason of the 61st District, Michael Crawford of the 31st District and Camille Lilly of the 78th District, which includes much of Oak Park. He also met with Illinois Senate President Don Harmon.

Jacobson said, “I wanted to make sure that, even though it was sort of chaotic and not super structured, Devin could speak up, and he really did. I was really impressed that he had the courage, because it can be intimidating.”

“He was very mature, respectful and courageous to share something so sensitive and demand something of the people that we’ve elected to serve us,” she added.

Yamamoto expressed how proud she was of Devin and how he used his voice because, “In our society, we tend to treat student voices like they only matter in academic assignments, but students have as much of a voice as anybody else.”

Devin intends to make an appointment with Harmon and Lilly this summer to further discuss his thoughts, ideas, and concerns regarding gun violence.

From a simple manifesto assignment, Devin believed that “finding something that impacted [him] and something [he] cared about” was crucial to make a difference.