(SPRINGFIELD, Ohio) — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost addressed students in the Springfield City School District today as the district ushered in another year of “Do the Write Thing,” a national program that asks middle-schoolers to explain how youth violence affects them and to share ideas about how to stop it.
“I am so happy to welcome you back to the Do the Write Thing program,” Yost said in a kickoff video shared with the students. “Do the Write Thing has grown to include five school districts across the state — but you were the first. Springfield was the first to take our program and continue to blaze a trail for the other middle-school students throughout Ohio.”
The Springfield district is in its third year of the program, which Yost’s office launched in the 2020-21 academic year. The Canton, Lima and Zanesville school districts joined the program last year, and new this year is the Youngstown district.
The program encourages seventh- and eighth-graders to put in their own words – maybe for the first time – a personal and sometimes-painful experience. It challenges them to express in a story, poem, song or other written form the violence they’ve seen, with an emphasis on exploring these key questions:
- How does violence affect your daily life?
- What are some of the causes of youth violence in your community?
- What can you as an individual do to reduce violence in your community?
Springfield community members and business leaders will read the work of students at Hayward, Roosevelt and Schaefer Middle Schools, and pick the top submissions. The winning pieces will be published in a booklet and shared statewide to draw greater attention to the problem of violence.
Dr. Bob Hill, superintendent of the Springfield City School District, expressed enthusiasm about another year of Do the Write Thing in the district.
“Every year since the initial launch, our team has explored ways to expand the program and morph this writing opportunity into something that produces real-life results in our schools and communities,” Hill said. “It cannot be stressed enough to our students that they have a choice every day – to choose violence or choose peace, and the consequences of either can be life-changing. I am looking forward to reading the stories, experiences and perspectives of the new group of DtWT participants, and I encourage others in the Springfield community who have influence to do the same. These are the voices of our future.”
Do the Write Thing, organized by the National Campaign to Stop Youth Violence, was founded in 1994. The program has reached millions of students nationwide.
Attorney General Yost’s remarks to the students can be found
here.
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Hannah Hundley: 614-906-9113
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