From the Office of the Attorney General Dave Yost
(YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio) – Students in the Youngstown City School District, in collaboration with Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and the national “Do the Write Thing Program,” continue to make strides in their mission. Their goal is to empower young individuals to candidly talk about violence they’ve encountered and offer solutions for their communities.
This afternoon, AG Yost recognized 10 Youngstown students as program finalists. His office partners with Do the Write Thing to bring the program to school districts throughout Ohio.
“Once again, Youngstown students were asked to write about how violence impacts their daily lives and to share their ideas of how to reduce violence in their community,” Yost wrote in the introductory letter of a booklet containing the writings of the Youngstown finalists. “They tackled the difficult subject with candor, thoughtfulness and insight beyond their years.”
The Do the Write Thing program took root in Ohio in 2021 with Springfield City Schools and has since been adopted by four other districts: Canton, Lima, Youngstown and Zanesville. This is the third year that Youngstown has provided its seventh- and eighth-graders with this platform to articulate personal experiences and potentially find catharsis.
The Do the Write Thing program took root in Ohio in 2021 and four districts currently participate: Canton, Lima, Youngstown and Zanesville. This is the third year that Youngstown has provided its seventh- and eighth-graders with this platform to articulate personal experiences and potentially find catharsis.
The district received 600 submissions this year from students at Chaney Middle School, East Middle School and Rayen Early College Middle School. The award ceremony took place today at B&O Station in Youngstown. Although Attorney General Yost was unable to attend the event, he shared a video message with the students.
“I know it’s not easy to write about violence,” Yost said in the video. “But your essays were thoughtful, eye-opening, provocative – exactly what we need to learn from you, our young citizens, to give us a better understanding of the world you’d like to live in and how it looks now from your point of view.”
Business leaders and community members judged the essays, selecting 10 stories for publication in the booklet, which will be distributed statewide.
Treyvaughn Belmonte and Sheliyan Roach will represent the Youngstown district. They will join six students from the three other participating districts as Ohio's ambassadors at the Do the Write Thing national conference in July in Washington, D.C.
Youngstown Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor praised the program for the opportunity it gives students to be heard.
“Our community has endured many devastating events on city streets that have given our scholars and their families a front-row seat to trauma and its aftermath,” he said. “Our scholars brought raw emotion and transparency to their writings. Their expressions have raised the level of understanding of the trauma in the community.”
Since its founding in 1994 by the National Campaign to Stop Youth Violence, Do the Write Thing has impacted millions of students nationwide.