Fearing for your life and safety shouldn’t be something children have to worry about on a daily basis, but due to the gun violence epidemic affecting schools across the country, it is. Gen Zers grew up with this reality, and now, as they come of age, many members of this generation are working to fight against it, taking action against gun violence and working to establish better school safety policies nationwide. One such Gen Z advocate is Sacramento State University freshman Morgaine Wilkins-Dean.
When Wilkins-Dean attended East High School in Denver, Colorado, she experienced three firearm-related incidents in a single year, resulting in the loss of two of her classmates. “That was a very hard year for me, and it was for the school, too,” Wilkins-Dean says in an exclusive interview with Her Campus. “There is not a lot of gun control when it comes to school safety, and it felt like no one cared.”
As part of her quest to earn a Gold Award, the highest honor given in the Girl Scouts program — which she’d been a part of since she was 6 years old — Wilkins-Dean set out to create policy to combat gun violence in schools. “I’m grateful for Girl Scouts,” Wilkins-Dean says. “It’s a very big program where you are encouraged to share your own voice and uplift your own voice.”
Wilkins-Dean became a part of her school’s chapter of Students Demand Action — a program that consists of young activists dedicated to gun violence advocacy. She was inspired by the work, and she decided to take further action to the Denver Public Schools (DPS) Board of Education to discuss how Colorado could implement stricter gun laws. From there, she was able to work with DPS members to create policy change concerning gun violence prevention, which has since gone into effect.
It’s due to this accomplishment that Wilkins-Dean was recently recognized by the White House — yes the White House. On Oct. 10, in honor of International Day of the Girl, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden named Wilkins-Dean a Girls Leading Change Honoree alongside nine other impressive girls. The honor is meant to celebrate young leaders who are striving to make changes in their communities and across the country.
“I remember getting all of the calls for it, and then I got to go to the White House and I was like, oh my God,” Wilkins-Dean says. “I was being filmed, [so] I couldn’t have a big reaction, but I was just like, ‘Oh my God, the president of the United States is in front of me.’ And, it was just a very surreal experience.”
So, what do you do after you’ve already been honored at the White House at such a young age? Well, school is her main priority right now, as she is still adjusting to a hectic first-year schedule. But her involvement within the gun violence prevention advocacy space isn’t ending anytime soon. “That’s always going to be a passion of mine and that’s always going to be an important issue,” she says. “The White House recognition has definitely opened doors for me and I have no idea what that’s going to look like yet. But, I’m open to anything and I’m excited.”