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March 28, 2024

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Students at Green Valley High weigh in on current events following Tucson tragedy

RELATED STORY: Local students weigh in on current events following Tucson tragedy

Involved Students

Daniel Rozental, a fifth-grader at The Meadows School, poses at the school Jan. 24, 2011. Launch slideshow »

It's been a month since the horrific shooting in Tucson that left six people dead and 13 wounded. Among the injured was Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head but is recovering.

The shooting's youngest victim was 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green. In a speech, President Barack Obama called for national harmony and eulogized Christina along with the other shooting victims.

Christina "showed an appreciation for life uncommon for a girl her age," Obama said. "I want to live up to her expectations, I want our democracy to be as good as Christina imagined it, I want America to be as good as Christina imagined it."

As the nation continues to reflect on what happened, the Sun wanted to know what young people in our community are thinking about the future of America.

Their responses to the Sun's questions are condensed and edited for clarity.

Responses from students at Green Valley High School are below. To read responses from other students around the valley, click here.

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Joe Rajchel is a senior at Green Valley High School in Henderson and editor-in-chief of the Investigator, the school newspaper.

Click to enlarge photo

Joe Rajchel, a senior at Green Valley High School, poses at the school in Henderson Friday, January 28, 2011. Rajchel is one of the editors-in-chief at the school's newspaper, The Investigator.

In what ways have you tried to take an active role in the community? What about the future?

In 2008, I canvassed for the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama campaigns. Last year, I was involved with the Rory Reid and Harry Reid campaigns — just going door-to-door, making phone calls to make sure people voted and understood the importance of their vote. What I want to do when I get out of college is be a campaign manager. For that, I'll have to start at the local level to move my way up, but I feel like at the local level, I'll get to know what people's issues are and I get to be really involved with people and find out what's important to them. If my candidate wins, then we have to go in and make sure people's needs are being met.

Catelyn Bowers is a sophomore and opinion editor of The Investigator, Green Valley High School's student newspaper.

Click to enlarge photo

Catelyn Bowers, a Green Valley High sophomore, poses at the school Jan. 28, 2011.

Why do you think it's important for people your age to get involved?

It's all going to affect us down the line. What happens now is going to get the ball rolling for what's going to happen later, when we can vote, and when it all affects us immediately.

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