Denver, Colorado Local News
East High grad’s quest for gun safety leads to White House accolade
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Denver’s Morgaine Wilkins-Dean was one of 10 girls honored by First Lady Jill Biden at the 2nd Girls Leading Change event on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. The young women were recognized for the impact they have had in their communities.
Caitlyn Kim/CPR News
After experiencing three school shootings her junior year at East High School, Morgaine Wilkins-Dean said she was scared.
She took that fear and mixed it with another thought she had: “I want to help.”
Wilkins-Dean reached out to Denver School Board member Michelle Quattlebaum and together they worked to enact a policy this year that requires all DPS superintendents to regularly inform the districts’ families about Colorado’s safe storage laws and how to protect children from guns at home.
First Lady Jill Biden honored Wilkins-Dean for her work on Thursday, along with nine other young women, at a “Girls Leading Change” event at the White House to mark International Day of the Girl, on October 11. Honorees were noted for shaping a brighter future in their communities.
“Today we say proudly for all to hear that girls are powerful,” Biden said. “Every time you show up as your true self, with your boldness and your insight, with your questions, you all shape the world, and that’s what this year’s honorees did.”
Biden said these girls didn’t wait for life to happen to them. “They stepped forward, and they spent their weekends and hours after school to make our world kinder and fairer and filled with more possibility.”
Of her White House visit, Wilkins-Dean said, “it’s surreal” and “overwhelming.”
The 18-year-old was nominated for the honor by someone from the local League of Women voters and the Girl Scouts of Colorado. This project earned Wilkins-Dean her Gold award, the highest achievement for a Girl Scout.
“Being here and getting to earn this award really has shown me that if you are scared of something or if you want something to change, you might not believe in yourself. But if you go out and do it, you can do it. And the only voice that you need is your own, really,” she said.
And now that she’s proven to herself she can do something on an issue that matters to her, she hopes other young women will be inspired to do the same, especially when it comes to the male-dominated world of public policy.
“When I was a young girl. I didn’t feel powerful,” she explained. “But it really takes a second to realize I can be powerful if I want to, and I am powerful. I don’t have to prove it to anyone. And I think that’s an important thing to show girls that you can do just as much as the boys next to you. You can be just as loud as them.”
Biden echoed that sentiment to the crowd that included family, friends, young girls from the area and President Joe Biden who popped in to learn about the girls being honored.
“If you ever wonder, can I — one person, one girl — can I make a difference? Standing here among these incredible women and girls, we have an answer, Yes you can!” the First Lady said.
The other honorees included Cheyenne Anderson of New Mexico, Sreenidi Bala of Connecticut, Noel Demetrio of Illinois, Serena Griffin of California, Pragathi Kasani-Akula of Georgia, Chili and Dolly Pramoda, sisters from Puerto Rico, Kira Tiller of Virgina, and Emily Austin, a military child who joked she’s “from everywhere.”
Wilkins-Dean said it was great to meet those other young women who are kind and passionate. “It really makes me hopeful for the future of not only government, but the arts.”
Wilkins-Dean, now a freshman at Sacramento State University, added she was thankful to all the people that helped her, because “getting a policy in place is a group effort.” For her, that group included her mom, board member Quattlebaum, and her troop leaders.
“I’m just so grateful for all of them,” she said.
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