Fifteen-year-old Josiah Owens is considering owning a gun one day because he wants protection. He doesn鈥檛 want to suffer the same fate as his best friend, whom he says survived a shooting a couple of years ago.

Owens, a sophomore at Disney II Magnet High School on the Northwest Side, was one of 23 Chicago teens ages 13 to 17 who took part in a recent weeklong program to learn about the risks of gun ownership and how to share those statistics with peers through a flashy social media campaign. He joined after a nudge from his mother, who wanted him to 鈥渂uild connections鈥� with other Chicago kids.

The program, which took place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each week day of spring break, was led by nonprofit Project Unloaded in partnership with nonprofit After School Matters, which paid the teen participants $150.

Since 2023, the organization has run a six-week summer program where teens get more time to research gun violence statistics and create catchy social media videos. But the spring break program was a first for Project Unloaded, according to Nina Vinik, founder and president of Project Unloaded.

Project Unloaded focuses on social media creation because that鈥檚 where 鈥測oung people today are going to find information,鈥� Vinik said.

鈥淎ll of our programs combine firearm risk education for young people with social media skill building, so we鈥檙e effectively teaching young people how to use social media as a way to make positive change in their communities,鈥� she said.

Last year, 18.6% of the victims of fatal and non-fatal shootings in Chicago were 19 years old or younger, almost one percentage point higher than the year before but a drop from about 20% in 2023, according to .

A 2022 survey of 989 Chicago parents found that , ranging from hearing gunshots to being shot. One-fifth of those children experienced mental health symptoms as a result.

Last week during Chicago Public Schools鈥� spring break, Owens and his peers showed up to the After School Matters offices in the Kilbourn Park neighborhood and learned some gun ownership statistics: People with a gun at home are twice as likely to be killed, according to According to people who owned a gun were four times more likely to be shot during an assault compared with those who didn鈥檛 have a gun on them.

The teens then learned how to create effective social media campaigns that direct people to a website with more information on studies related to gun ownership. They spent a day with staff from iO improv theater to 鈥渃ome out of their shells,鈥� said Olivia Brown, associate director of youth engagement at Project Unloaded who led the spring break program. They also watched videos from other content creators to learn that a good video has a hook, a main message, and then a call to action, Brown said.

鈥淭hey were like, 鈥極h, it鈥檚 kind of like writing a persuasive essay,鈥欌�� Brown said, who agreed with them. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like, you got to get your reader, aka your viewer, on your side.鈥�

The teens practiced shooting videos with their phones. Then, Project Unloaded鈥檚 digital strategist helped them create their final videos with his equipment.

On the Friday of spring break, the last day of their program, the teens presented their videos in groups of three or four. They walked up to the front of the room, some appearing shy, facing their peers and invited guests who included content creators.

Their videos, which lasted less than 30 seconds, will be added to an ongoing advertising campaign created by last summer鈥檚 cohort of teens, called

One group presented a video showcasing a fictional 鈥淭otally Safe News鈥� network, where one of the participants played a correspondent who initially says owning a gun offers safety. Then, the screen bleeps out, and the correspondent fixes the newscast to say owning a gun doubles the risk of homicide.

鈥淔acts don鈥檛 care about opinions,鈥� the correspondent says.

Owens鈥� group made a video where the camera toggles between the teens playing a video game while they discuss the statistics associated with owning a gun.

In another group鈥檚 video, one of the teens says he owns a gun, and his peer walks up and puts a clown wig on him. The audience in the room laughed.

Vinik emphasized that they don鈥檛 鈥渢ell any young person what to do or what to think or what not to do,鈥� rather, they want to arm them with information 鈥渢o make the best decision that they can for themselves.鈥�

The program did appear to change some of the teens鈥� minds: Project Unloaded representatives said they saw a 30% drop among the participants who are interested in owning a gun. One of them is Makayla Mason, 16, who鈥檚 a junior at Lane Tech High School, who said she considered buying a gun when she gets older.

鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 even want to get one anymore,鈥� she said.

Owens, who wants to be a boxer when he gets older, said the social media skills he learned could be useful in helping to promote himself one day.

As for gun ownership? The program didn鈥檛 change his mind: He鈥檚 still considering buying a gun one day.

鈥淣ow I just know the risks of it, which is good,鈥� he said.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at .

Nearly half of all adolescents surveyed said they felt closer to their parents after two years of disrupted learning, but a sizable group grew more distant from classmates and teachers than they were in February 2020. A strong majority also said they wished school would be delivered fully in-person from now on.

, released last week by the Pew Research Center, pointed to some of the same trends that have been on display in other public opinion data released over the last two years: A plurality of parents said they were 鈥渧ery satisfied鈥� with the way schools handled online learning, but a large minority were also concerned their children would fall behind academically. Teenage respondents generally did not share that concern, but were also more likely to describe themselves as unhappy with virtual instruction at their school.

Colleen McClain, a Pew research associate and one of the report鈥檚 lead authors, said the findings offered a 鈥渃omplex picture鈥� of how the pandemic affected teenagers鈥� academic and social realities.

鈥淚 think it really paints a nuanced perspective of what teens have been through during the pandemic, what they’re still going through, and how it varies depending on a lot of factors.鈥�

The survey, conducted between April 14 and May 4, queried over 1,300 pairs of U.S. teens (between the ages of 13 and 17) and their parents about their experiences at school and attitudes toward learning. Responses were disaggregated by both race and family income to show how families of different backgrounds were weathering the late stages of the pandemic.

Somewhat surprisingly, only about 80 percent of students in the nationally representative sample said they had attended school fully in-person over the previous month (i.e., between mid-March and early April). Conversely, in a public letter circulated in May, 鈥渕ore than 99 percent of schools and colleges are open.鈥� Both statements could simultaneously be true, with K-12 schools remaining 鈥渙pen鈥� for in-person learning even as significant numbers of students studied remotely during a time of . But the large group of students either learning completely online (8 percent) or in a hybrid model (11 percent) indicates a wide variety of school experiences in the spring of 2022.

The persistent, if periodic, absence of teenagers from school campuses could help explain the impact that the pandemic has left on their personal relationships. On the positive side, fully 95 percent of teenagers said they felt as close, or even more close, to their parents or guardians as they were before the pandemic began 鈥� a notable development after long months spent in much closer proximity than was previously the norm. 

But even as it gathered household members closer together, COVID also seemed to wall off teenagers from their more peripheral social ties. This was especially true in school communities, where about one-third of respondents said they felt less close to classmates and teachers than before the coronavirus outbreak.

Across all categories of relationships, McClain reflected, most students said they were 鈥渁bout as close鈥� as they were three years ago. 鈥淏ut when you get to friends, extended family, classmates, teachers 鈥� people that teens probably wouldn’t have seen quite as much during the pandemic 鈥� you do see these larger shares saying that they feel less close to them.”

The growing feelings of isolation from school peers are perhaps unsurprising, given the exigencies of remote instruction. Still, they are notable in the context of child socialization: The early teen years are when children typically become more free of their immediate families and more dependent on relationships with their peers. Earlier pandemic research has indicated that while depression and anxiety increased among young adults in 2020 and 2021, many found solace in connecting with their friends on social media.

The study authors did note 鈥渕odest鈥� differences in these trends, with African American students being somewhat more likely than whites to describe themselves as becoming more distant from friends.

Among the report鈥檚 other findings:

• Asked what kind of schooling they would choose in the wake of COVID-19, about two-thirds of all students said they wanted to attend classes entirely in-person. Nine percent said they would prefer completely online coursework, and 18 percent would opt for a hybrid. 

• Black students were the demographic group least likely to favor a full return to in-person schooling, with just 51 percent backing that option. Over 40 percent said they would welcome either a hybrid or fully online experience.

• A plurality of parents 鈥� 39 percent in all 鈥� said they were either 鈥渧ery鈥� or 鈥渆xtremely鈥� satisfied with their local schools鈥� approach to virtual learning. By comparison, just 28 percent of students themselves said the same, while 30 percent said they were 鈥渁 little鈥� or 鈥渘ot at all鈥� satisfied.

• Just one-in-six teenage respondents said they were very or extremely worried about falling behind in school, compared with 28 percent of parents. Hispanic respondents were the most likely to voice this concern, with 28 percent of Hispanic teens and 42 percent of Hispanic parents saying they were very or extremely worried.

Chris Riback:聽Ramie, thank you for coming to our ELN studio.

Ramie Mack:聽Thank you for having me.

Chris Riback:聽It’s great to see you.

Ramie Mack:聽Thank you.

Chris Riback:聽We appreciate it. Ramie, tell me about yourself. What year are you in high school? What are your interests?

Ramie Mack:聽OK. Hi, my name is Ramie Mack. I’m from Fayetteville, North Carolina. I’m 17 years old. I’m a junior at Seventy-First High School, and I just love my community and just bettering it.

Chris Riback:聽Why are you here today?

Ramie Mack:聽I’m actually here with my youth council, the Fayetteville-Cumberland Youth Council. We come to the National League of Cities Congressional City Conference every single year, and I’m just so happy to be here because we weren’t here the last two years. We were virtual, so I’m just here with my youth council. I’m also on the YEF board, that’s the Youth, Education and Families board that NLC has. I’m one of the youth representatives. So yes, I’m just so excited to be here.

Chris Riback:聽What are your goals with that board? What do you enjoy about it? What do you hope that they focus on?

Ramie Mack:聽I just love how they allow us to give the youth perspective. I think perspectives are really big. Once you have different people from different backgrounds, different ethnicities, you have different perspectives, and that just gives people a different outlook on situations or topics that we discuss. I love how NLC always includes the youth. I’m very big on just having a youth mind in the room, it just changes the whole trajectory of the thing. So I just love how they allow us to give our opinion. Some people might not agree with my opinion, but you’re giving me the opportunity to share it. So it’s always an honor to just be in rooms like that with mayors and council members, so it’s really amazing.

Chris Riback:聽I bet it is. What would your youth perspective be? If you were talking to a mayor or a city council member right now, what would you tell them about youth education? What should be changed? What could be made better? What’s your view?

Ramie Mack:聽A lot of times, they hear us but they don’t listen. You hear what we’re saying, but are you comprehending what I’m saying? And I just really think they should just sit down and listen to us because they say they care about the youth, but what are the action steps that you are taking to benefit us? So I think they should just do a better job with school board. Do you have a youth representative in the room when you’re talking about stuff that have to do with us? Are you accommodating to how we’re feeling?

A lot of people don’t realize what teenagers go through. We’re going through a lot. We just, we had to do school on a computer for two years and you expect us to function like everything’s okay. Sometimes we’re not okay, and that’s okay. Sometimes it’s okay not to be okay, and it’s okay for us to express that we’re not okay. And if they would just listen, I think a lot of things would change if they would just listen to the youth perspective.

Chris Riback:聽In your community, does education occur only in the classroom, or does education occur even outside the classroom, in after school programs, churches, whatever it is?

Ramie Mack:聽Learning happens 24/7. Everywhere you go, you’re learning something. We’re always learning something, we’re always… You telling me something about yourself, I just learned something about you. You’re always learning. It’s not just in the classroom, it’s outside the classroom. It’s in a school board, it’s in a courtroom, it’s in a jail cell, it’s… Everywhere, you’re learning something. So it’s not just in the classroom.

Chris Riback:聽What’s next for you?

Ramie Mack: I don’t know what holds next for me. I’m just a really, I’m just a person who just… I just go with it. I know I have big things ahead of me, but I’m a type of person who plans it, but I also don’t plan it at the same time because you never know how life goes. I am about to head to college in a few years, I graduate in 2023. So my plan is to go to Winston-Salem State University, and that’s in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and just… I know I’m going to do big things. I know after I graduate high school, me bettering my community, it’s not just going to stop here when I graduate. So I’m just excited, just for what the future holds for me.

Chris Riback:聽I’m excited for you just listening to that, and look forward to seeing all the things that you do.

Ramie Mack:聽Thank you.

Chris Riback:聽Ramie, thank you. Thank you for joining us today.

Ramie Mack:聽Thank you for having me.

The news comes as the number of average daily COVID cases in the U.S. has in the past two weeks, and as fears for spread of the Omicron variant have motivated a to a level not seen since late May.聽

鈥淲ith both the Delta and Omicron variants continuing to spread, vaccination remains the best protection against COVID-19,鈥� said Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock in a .

The Omicron strain, listed as a 鈥渧ariant of concern鈥� by the World Health Organization in late November, currently makes up a miniscule fraction of U.S. infections, but features a combination of mutations that worries scientists. It is known to have infected more than , the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the Associated Press Wednesday.

The first look at how vaccines hold up against the Omicron variant bodes well for the efficacy of Pfizer-BioNTech鈥檚 booster doses, experts say.聽

Lab data published Tuesday analyzing how effectively blood from vaccinated South Africans neutralized the new strain found that the virus did evade the immune defenses more craftily than previous versions of COVID. However, blood from individuals who had a previous infection and then received two vaccine doses did a good job staving off Omicron. It鈥檚 the best proxy so far for the immunity of those who have received three doses, scientists say, because South Africa has not yet authorized booster shots.

鈥溾�嬧�婽his study gives me great hope that our boosters will help protect against Omicron,鈥� Katelyn Jetelina, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Texas School of Public Health, wote in a explaining the new lab results.

In authorizing third doses for 16- and 17-year olds, the FDA expanded its already existing emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to include older teens. Before shots can be officially administered to the newly eligible group, they need to receive the green light from the CDC, an authorization that is expected to come swiftly. The federal agency cleared boosters for all adults 18 and older in early November.

鈥淪ince we first authorized the vaccine, new evidence indicates that vaccine effectiveness against COVID-19 is waning after the second dose of the vaccine for all adults and for those in the 16- and 17-year-old age group,鈥� said Peter Marks, director of the FDA鈥檚 Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. 鈥淎 single booster dose of the vaccine for those vaccinated at least six months prior will help provide continued protection against COVID-19 in this and older age groups.鈥澛�

Meanwhile, as many Americans are still wrapping their minds around first, second and third doses, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said late Wednesday that the Omicron variant could mean will be necessary in under 12 months.

New Mexico appears to be the first state to require that certain workers receive booster shots, including a vaccinate-or-test rule for K-12 staff. So far, about 9 percent of school employees statewide have submitted documentation of having received a third dose.

Ensuring that staff and eligible students up their immunity as Omicron threats loom may be of particular importance given that temporary school closures have continued through the fall. Roughly 10 percent of the nation鈥檚 schools have experienced a disruption this school year alone. Some closures have been due to outbreaks, but others have been caused by teacher burnout and staffing shortages.

As of Dec. 1, some 4.3 million children ages 5 to 11, representing 15 percent of the age group, had received a vaccine dose. The same was true for ages 12 to 17, and over half had completed the full two-dose series, according to data published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Across all ages, more than people in the U.S are now fully vaccinated, about 60 percent of the population.