HAZLETON, Pa. — The halls of Hazleton Area High School are bustling, but on this day, students were given time to stop and reflect.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry led a roundtable of students to discuss the impact of gun violence on their mental health.
"Gun violence is a reality, and these students grapple with it every single day, the trauma that's associated with it," Attorney General Henry said.
It's a reality that hits home for many of these students.
"In the past year or two, we've had students who were shot and killed outside of school. It's a shame to see that in our hometown, just trying to be kids and feel safe, it's really hard. It's really sad that that's a reality for us," senior Charles Marchetti said.
While these incidents took place outside the high school, administrators say it still impacts students inside the classrooms.
"I think it's important for the attorney general to hear those stories and to feel what we're going through. Just to help with whatever they may be feeling and how can we promote gun safety," said Hazleton Area Superintendent Brian Uplinger.
While these discussions are important, school officials say they need funding that's still held up in Harrisburg to make real change for their students.
"Not to mention the fair funding formula, that we're woefully underfunded for, just because of the size of us and everything else. So, it's really important for that funding to come through so we can look at additional counselors, we can look at additional programming," Uplinger said.
The Hazleton Area School district Takes part in the Safe2Say Something program, which allows students to make anonymous reports if they see something that makes them feel unsafe, but the attorney general says there's still more work to be done, and these conversations will help shape the future of mental health support programs.
"Highlight the fact that there's a real need here. And that we need this funding to help the schools. we need counselors in the schools to be able to support the children," Henry said.
This is the fourth school stop for the attorney general as she makes her way across the state, allowing students to have their voices heard.
"We all have differing opinions. We all have a variety of viewpoints. But I think that just the most important thing is that we all just want to feel heard," Marchetti added.