(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — The Ohio School Safety Center (OSSC) announced today that 16 Ohio high school students have been selected for the 2024-2025 Ohio Student Safety Advisory Council.
Governor Mike DeWine created the council in 2022 to help OSSC leadership identify school safety concerns and develop innovative solutions to address them. Students from last year’s council will be presenting their capstone projects at the 2024 School Safety Summit this summer.
“This year’s students took their capstone projects to new levels and got their peers more involved in the everyday safety activities at their schools,” said OSSC Executive Director Emily Torok. “Our alumni members quickly got the new council onboarded and they all supported each other in a student network to promote safety across the state. I encourage everyone to reach out to their local council member to learn about their projects and initiatives. They are very impressive.”
The council will be invited to attend the in-person Ohio School Safety Summit on July 31-Aug. 1 at the Columbus Convention Center to network with their peers and attend initial informational sessions on violence prevention strategies and emotional safety.
Council members will develop strategies to encourage their peers to actively engage in maintaining a safe school environment and will be advocates for students’ overall well-being. Students will work directly with OSSC school safety liaisons to organize events, focus groups, and trainings to help highlight student success and safety best practices at various schools. These members will also act as a sounding board for the Ohio School Safety Working Group and OSSC on student marketing campaigns and other projects to ensure that student voices are represented.
The 16 new students selected for the Ohio Student Safety Advisory Council include:
- Kylee Hampshire, Tecumseh High School, Clark County
- Grace Tolliver, Bethel-Tate High School, Clermont County
- Grant Lee, Solon High School, Cuyahoga County
- Anshul Sharma, University School, Cuyahoga County
- Sarah Deiley, Olentangy Liberty High School, Delaware County
- Mingfei Shuai, Olentangy High School, Delaware County
- Bishishta Acharya, Upper Arlington High School, Franklin County
- Connor Burns, Loveland High School, Hamilton County
- Braxton Glover, Northwest High School, Hamilton County
- Caden Boyes, Mentor Lake Catholic High School, Lake County
- Lily Sherman, Springfield High School, Lucas County
- Christian Pearson, Marion Harding High School, Marion County
- Hannah Hartigan, Oak Harbor High School, Ottawa County
- Cora Dotts, Claymont High School, Tuscarawas County
- Zane Kuczirka, Claymont High School, Tuscarawas County
- Hunter Martin, Vinton County High School, Vinton County
Eight of the previous year’s council members have agreed to return this upcoming year as mentors for the incoming council. They will continue to work on projects in their communities and act as force multipliers for school safety improvements.
Governor DeWine created the Ohio School Safety Center in 2019. It is housed within the Ohio Department of Public Safety and works to assist local schools, colleges and universities, and law enforcement agencies to prevent, prepare for, and respond to threats and acts of violence, including self-harm, through a holistic, solutions-based approach to improving school safety.