Two eighth-grade students from AISD’s Burnet Middle School have been named national ambassadors for the Do the Write Thing Challenge. This year marks the first time that the two national ambassadors from the Austin-Travis County area have been from the same school. 

Rudolph (R.C.) Hardin and Vivian Pan were selected as ambassadors for the program, which is an initiative of the National Campaign to Stop Violence. NCSV is a nonprofit organization comprised of community, business and governmental leaders committed to reducing youth violence in communities throughout the U.S.

Hardin’s and Pan’s compositions were selected from among 3,820 compositions submitted by students in the Austin, Eanes, Del Valle, Manor and Pflugerville school districts.

Committees of local government, business and community leaders in each participating jurisdiction administer the program at the local level and review students’ written compositions.  

The committee chooses one boy and one girl whose writing represents the most powerful message and commitment to change as ambassadors.

The students will have the opportunity to travel to Washington D.C. to present their views on youth violence to national leaders, including some members of the president’s Cabinet and Congress. 

DtWT seeks to reduce youth violence by giving students the opportunity to discuss the issue in class and write about the impact of youth violence in their communities and how to reduce it. Students are also asked to make a personal commitment to doing something to reduce violence.

Hardin and Pan’s compositions have been published and placed in the Library of Congress. NCSV has also published a discussion document on the causes of and solutions to youth violence, based on the compositions of DtWT ambassadors.

For more information about DtWT, visit http://www.dtwt.org.