Cobbs Creek students are making gun violence prevention a priority in their West Philly neighborhood

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High school junior Kai Sample stood in the center of the basketball gym at Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia middle school with a mic in hand on a recent Thursday afternoon.

He wore a black T-shirt with a red circular “no” symbol across a picture of a gun. The words, “Enough – End Gun Violence,” were bright orange on the front.

“Y’all ready?” he asked a crowd of students, teachers and family members who sat along the perimeter of the gym. “Alright, ready, set, go!”

Students wearing yellow and orange pinnies sprang into action and started making passes and shots in two side-by-side half court games. Teams that scored the most points in 10 minutes moved on to the next round.

For the next hour, the basketball tournament would serve as a safe space for kids to have fun with their friends and classmates. It was also an opportunity for high school students to talk to their peers about gun violence in their community.

The number of shootings in the West Philly neighborhoods of Cobbs Creek and Haddington remains high compared to other parts of the city, data shows. About 11 shootings in and around the area have been recorded so far this year, including one death.

Several Boys’ Latin students and alumni have died in gun-related deaths over the past decade.

“We just wanted to show, like, a bunch of us have been going through stuff, especially in Philadelphia,” Sample said. “We want to make a difference for just showing why gun violence shouldn’t exist.”

Sample and other Boys’ Latin juniors are making gun violence prevention a priority with community workshops, social media campaigns, outreach to local lawmakers and events like the basketball tournament.

“Basketball is a powerful vehicle in their community,” said Sophia Collins, a community nurse advocate at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who is working with the students. “So, pairing what they love to do and what they know so well to positive messaging, we have found great success.”

They’re doing this work as members of CHOP’s Nursing Pathways Program, which introduces teens to careers in medicine. Participants learn CPR, shadow nurses at local hospitals as they work in intensive care units and meet with patients. Different groups of students have rotated through the program over the last four years.

“Being in the ICU, seeing all the different patients, you get a different understanding and a different appreciation for how precious and special life truly is,” said Zion Rhoden, whose mother is a nurse.

The issue of gun violence is personal for a lot of students at Boys’ Latin. Sample, who is interested in studying sports medicine in college, lost his uncle to gun violence.

“It just definitely weighs on my heart,” he said, “and why I want to keep guns off the street so nobody has to deal with loss or just like the feeling of being alone just cause someone you love got hit with a gun.”

Guns might be appropriate in specific situations, but they’ve been abused and overused to the point where it has created dangerous conditions in Philly communities, said classmate James McClan.

“And I think that needs to be stopped, questioned and also just recognized,” he said. “And we need to find ways to prevent it.”

The students partnered with the Shoot Basketballs NOT People initiative, which was founded by longtime Philly native, athlete and advocate Gary Mills. He’s also an assistant basketball coach at Boys’ Latin.

“This is what it’s all about for me,” Mills said at the basketball tournament. “The merging of basketball and gun violence prevention, they’re just like the new generation of babies coming through the whole pipeline.”

Students distributed gun locks and gun safety information during the tournament and held a moment of silence as they read aloud names of former students who had died.

They’ll also give out more gun locks, host workshops and attend other community events in the coming weeks as the school year comes to a close.

Dr. Dorothy Novick, primary care pediatrician and director of CHOP’s Gun Safety Program, said the most important part of all of this has been empowering students and equipping them with the right tools to make change in their communities.

“It’s so incredibly powerful to realize that you can actually make a significant difference and you can not only keep your community safer, but even give back to the community,” she said. “So, you have a group of kids who are saying, ‘Yes, working in health care is a great way to care for other people and give back to the community, and also doing what we can to reduce gun violence.’”

The awareness basketball event is a step in the right direction, Rhoden said, but a lot more work remains.

“A lot of stuff could be prevented, but certain laws in place stop that from happening,” he said. “Somebody important to me always says to me, ‘Prevention is better than cures.’ So, it’s better to stop something before it starts.”