They’re doing this work as members of CHOP’s Nursing Pathways Program, which introduces teens to careers in medicine. Participants learn CPR, shadow nurses at local hospitals as they work in intensive care units and meet with patients. Different groups of students have rotated through the program over the last four years.
“Being in the ICU, seeing all the different patients, you get a different understanding and a different appreciation for how precious and special life truly is,” said Zion Rhoden, whose mother is a nurse.
The issue of gun violence is personal for a lot of students at Boys’ Latin. Sample, who is interested in studying sports medicine in college, lost his uncle to gun violence.
“It just definitely weighs on my heart,” he said, “and why I want to keep guns off the street so nobody has to deal with loss or just like the feeling of being alone just cause someone you love got hit with a gun.”
Boys Latin of Philadelphia High School students cheer on kids as they play in a basketball tournament organized to raise awareness about gun violence and prevention on Thurs. April 9, 2025. (Nicole Leonard)
Guns might be appropriate in specific situations, but they’ve been abused and overused to the point where it has created dangerous conditions in Philly communities, said classmate James McClan.
“And I think that needs to be stopped, questioned and also just recognized,” he said. “And we need to find ways to prevent it.”
The students partnered with the Shoot Basketballs NOT People initiative, which was founded by longtime Philly native, athlete and advocate Gary Mills. He’s also an assistant basketball coach at Boys’ Latin.
Students at Boys Latin of Philadelphia, a charter school in West Philadelphia, play in a middle school basketball tournament organized by high school students in partnership with Shoot Basketballs NOT People and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Thurs., April 9, 2026. (Nicole Leonard)
“This is what it’s all about for me,” Mills said at the basketball tournament. “The merging of basketball and gun violence prevention, they’re just like the new generation of babies coming through the whole pipeline.”
Students distributed gun locks and gun safety information during the tournament and held a moment of silence as they read aloud names of former students who had died.
They’ll also give out more gun locks, host workshops and attend other community events in the coming weeks as the school year comes to a close.
Students at Boys Latin of Philadelphia, a charter school in West Philadelphia, play in a middle school basketball tournament organized by high school students in partnership with Shoot Basketballs NOT People and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Thurs., April 9, 2026. (Nicole Leonard)
Dr. Dorothy Novick, primary care pediatrician and director of CHOP’s Gun Safety Program, said the most important part of all of this has been empowering students and equipping them with the right tools to make change in their communities.
“It’s so incredibly powerful to realize that you can actually make a significant difference and you can not only keep your community safer, but even give back to the community,” she said. “So, you have a group of kids who are saying, ‘Yes, working in health care is a great way to care for other people and give back to the community, and also doing what we can to reduce gun violence.’”
The awareness basketball event is a step in the right direction, Rhoden said, but a lot more work remains.
“A lot of stuff could be prevented, but certain laws in place stop that from happening,” he said. “Somebody important to me always says to me, ‘Prevention is better than cures.’ So, it’s better to stop something before it starts.”