12 May 9 • 2019
jn

jews d
in 
the
on the cover

I

t’
s happened again.
Six months to the day when a white suprema-
cist gunman stormed the sanctuary of Tree of Life 
Synagogue in Pittsburgh, another attack shattered the 
calm of Shabbat in the Chabad Center of Poway, Calif., 
April 27 at the conclusion of Passover. 
It’
s been 15 months since the Parkland shooting. If 
the past is a predictor, the news cycle will move on as it 
did for Parkland, and San Diego, and Pittsburgh. The 
shock of the latest mass shooting will ease over time. 
But a flurry of grassroots activism from local Jewish 
organizations like the National Council of Jewish 
Women, Greater Michigan Section, and the Joint 
Action Committee for Public Affairs (JAC ii) drives 
home the fact that after the initial sting of the latest 
shooting wears off, the public should keep paying atten-
tion to the day-to-day politics and the long-term efforts 
of passing common-sense gun control legislation even 
if the media is not. 
This spring, NCJW held a public service announce-
ment (PSA) contest on the issue, asking high school 
students to create succinct, powerful messages on 
the urgent need for sensible gun control legislation. 

Finalists — area students Sydney Stearns, Sarah 
Chynoweth and Madison Strachan — won monetary 
scholarships that topped $1,000.
The awards were presented at an April 15 NCJW 
event at the Farmington Public Library that included 
speakers Jeff Kasky, father of two Parkland shooting 
survivors, as well as Linda Brundage, executive director 
of Michigan Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence. 
PSA Finalist Sarah Chynoweth, a senior at North 
Farmington High School, said hatred, combined with 
access to guns, prompted her to become more vocal 
and active with the goal that elected officials will pay 
attention and eventually pass stricter gun control laws. 
Chynoweth, who said her Jewish values were shaped 
by her involvement in BBYO and the Friendship Circle 
as well as being a lifelong member at Adat Shalom 
Synagogue in Farmington Hills, wanted to create a PSA 
to allow a diverse group of peers, who will soon be 
voting age, speak their minds about the importance of 
reforming gun laws to stem the tide of shootings and 
violence. She hopes to study criminology and psycholo-
gy at Michigan State University in the fall. 
Since the shooting in Poway, Chynoweth said she 

o
e co e

After Parkland, teens are 
leading in advocating 
for sensible gun control 
legislation.

STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

continued on page 14

Madison 
Strachan

March for Our Lives protest at the 

Detroit River Downtown, 2018

Sarah 
Chynoweth

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Sydney Stearns

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STACY GITTLEMAN

STACY GITTLEMAN

