Student athletes at Quest Charter Academy take part in 'Help Stop the Violence' Movement - HOI ABC

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PEORIA (Heart of Illinois ABC) - An athletic director at a Peoria high school is helping his student athletes try to find solutions to the violence in the city.

A majority of student athletes at Quest Charter Academy High School have more than just a love for basketball in common - they’ve been impacted by violence.

Senior Tre’Veon Greenwood is one of them.

“It was around the night time and I had just called my grandma,” Greenwood said.

“When I called her, she was already crying. I was like ‘What’s wrong?’ and she said ‘Your dad got shot,” Greenwood continued.

Greenwood’s father was shot and killed in 2020.

Now, Greenwood is a part of a new movement at the school called ‘Help Stop the Violence’ because he feels sad seeing others lose a loved one to violence.

“Coach Dickerson really got me involved,” Greenwood said.

“He been on me about stop the violence and he really pushes me to be a leader in this because of my dad,” he added.

Athletic Director Elmer Dickerson started the movement to help curb the violence in the city.

“We have six promises that we have that we’re intentionally reading to the kids, letting them know that as leaders, I want them to use their influence on their peers to not use violence to settle their disputes,” Dickerson said.

Those promises state that student athletes will use their influence with family and friends to keep them from using violence in disputes, respect themselves and others, never use violence to settle a dispute, not bully or cyberbully and report it, think before they act, and to apologize for wrongful actions/forgive others.

“People think when violence happens, it’s always either a gun, a weapon,” Dickerson said.

“But bullying is a form of violence. Talking bad about someone is a form of violence,” he continued.

“If I can nip that in the bud early and that starts with the youth, I think we can try to detour that,” Dickerson added.

Dickerson said 85% of his student athletes and coaches say they knew at least one person who they have lost to the city’s violence.

He said Peoria Police Chief Eric Echevarria, Mayor Rita Ali and other city leaders co-sign the promises and agreed to join the movement.

Senior Jamal Jackson said he’s been friends with Greenwood for years.

He said when Greenwood lost his father, it was sad mourning alongside Greenwood and said he was close to Greenwood’s father.

He said it’s sad to see the violence increasing around the city and said he wants to use his leadership skills he learned playing basketball in the community to stop the violence.

“I feel like as a community, we got to just come together and be there for the youth no matter what,” Jackson said.

“You can lead somebody in the right direction and get them in a good path no matter what it is.”

Copyright 2021 Heart of Illinois ABC. All rights reserved.

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Student athletes at Quest Charter Academy take part in 'Help Stop the Violence' Movement - HOI ABC
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