Sophia's Winning Essay for our 2023 Scholarship

Sophia Deiser is a high school student from South Florida who has been personally impacted by gun violence. Read below for the essay she wrote that made her a recipient of our 2023 scholarship:

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Getting ready for school is a simple task. You wake up, take a shower, brush your teeth (but fake it because you’re a stubborn eight-year-old), and eat breakfast. Putting on my red polo uniform and khaki skirt, what was on my blissful mind was the newest My Little Pony episode; what was not was the swarm of police cars outside of my neighborhood I was about to see. But yet, there they were, with their flashing blue and red lights, ear-piercing sirens, and, of course, police officers, with their guns hung low from their utility belt. I didn’t really think much of it at the time, because I was eight-years old and couldn’t even comprehend basic addition sometimes. My neighbor — who I carpooled with at the time — turned her red minivan right around as the police barricaded the neighborhood. “Looks like no school today.”, she said as she frowned; meanwhile, me and my neighborhood friend celebrated. I sometimes wish I was that ignorant about things now.

A couple of hours later, the police cleared the neighborhood as safe, so we were whisked away to school. A small part of me had wished that the police cars came back, just so I didn’t have to go to school. As I walked into the building, I assumed it would be a normal day of third grade. Language arts, math, social studies, everything dragged on forever. Finally, the end-of-the-day bell rang, and I rushed out to the carline with my friends. As we chattered about Pokemon cards, action figures, and rainbow loom bracelets, a teacher came running out. She stopped next to the principal and whispered into her ear. I distinctly remember the panic that came onto her face as she yelled for everyone to get inside. Every student in the carline ran back into the building. A sinking feeling ran through my body as I heard someone yell, “There’s a man!” into the crowd. This sent even more panic into the already horrified students. I was near the back, all of my friends had been swept away by the horde, and I was scared for my life.

When I finally got into the school, I was pulled into the media center by a teacher. As I walked in, I expected silence since it was a code red. But students were just talking, joking, not even realizing the danger that we were in. I sat silently at a table; the lights weren’t even dimmed! For an hour it was like this. I have never felt more scared and unprepared than at that moment. A teacher then came up to me to bring me to a classroom. I’m not really sure why they were moving students around in the middle of a code red to this day, but it still created a huge impact on me.

Here I was, shaking and tearing up, being walked around the campus while a man with a gun was outside of the building.

I was denied entry into the first classroom. Of course, this was standard procedure, and I’m glad they actually followed it. However, the first thing that went through my undeveloped mind was, “They aren’t going to let me in. I’m going to get shot in this hallway because no one is letting me in.” Finally, and maybe unfortunately, a teacher opened her door for me. I walked into the room, and was surprised to see the exact same scene as the media center: kids talking loudly, games being played, even a movie was being shown! I was absolutely dumb-founded by this, while my friend (who happened to be in the same classroom) didn’t see a problem with it.

After reading this, you might expect it to make the news because a man with a gun had been on campus. But no, nothing even made it into the newspaper. What happened was a man broke into a police officer’s car and stole his gun in my neighborhood, hence all the police cars. Then, he escaped out of the neighborhood, and while running from the police, ran through our school. We had to go into a lockdown for over three hours because he dashed across the field with a loaded weapon.

So, to answer the question of “what do you wish the general public knew about the experience of being impacted by gun violence?”, I want the public to know that even though it is talked about all of the time, it is still never taken seriously. I’ve told family and friends about this story, about how it caused my panic attacks during code red drills to this day, and they never believe me. They think I’m exaggerating, saying “It couldn’t have been that bad, there were no deaths! No injuries! You’re fine!” Yes there was nothing of the sort, but the results of it left me different. As I stated before, the experience led me to have panic attacks during code red drills. Everytime I drive past my old elementary school, I only think of that moment.

I want people to know that even if these events don’t make the news, don’t have any deaths or injuries, they are still very impactful on one person.

Especially an eight-year-old girl.