Zanesville Middle School Students Use Their Voices To Discuss The Effects of Violence Through Literacy

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- They say the best way to understand your fears and create change is through discussions.

Zanesville Middle School is doing exactly that by allowing their students to write about their experience with violence and create solutions to protect others in their community.

The program is in collaboration with Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and the Zanesville is one of four middle school’s to participate, according to Adrian Williams, the Principal at Zanesville Middle School.

“What the program does is ask students to write about three main questions really, how has violence impacted you, what do you think are some of the causes of violence in your area and then what can you do to kind of curb those effects of violence in your life? And it’s all geared towards middle school students,” Williams stated.

There are about 400 students at Zanesville Middle School and all are welcome to share their experiences with violence. So far there has been a great response from the students and parents about the program, says Williams.

We’ve gone over some of the example essays that students have written in the past so we can have these conversations and talk about what we can do differently going forward,” Williams said. “I’ve talked to several of the parents on the phone and in my office and they feel that this is a great opportunity for their children to have a voice.”

Along with the program comes a banquet and an awards ceremony that will be held at the school for the top 10 finalist and the top two finalists from the 10 will get an all expense paid trip to Washington D.C. and their piece published in the Library of Congress.