‘Life isn’t always promised to you:’ Local student wins scholarship with gun violence essay

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville teen is rising above his trauma and chasing his dream of going to college and getting a degree.

Jean Ribault High School senior Mykal Bolden recently won a scholarship for an essay he wrote about witnessing gun violence at a young age.

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It’s called the Empowering Greatness Scholarship, and it was created by the Farah & Farah law firm.

“Over the course of high school, I began to focus and realize the true benefits of higher education,” Mykal Bolden read aloud from his essay.

Bolden said the past four years haven’t been easy.

“I lost sight of education and how important it was,” Bolden said.

He said his GPA dramatically dropped in middle school when he lost sight of his priorities and in his freshman year of high school he witnessed a shooting.

Action News Jax first told you back in 2018 when a gunman shot three teens at a Raines-Lee high school football game.

“All you heard was gunfire and I saw the dude just drop,” Bolden said.

He said he was at the concession stand with his aunt when the shooting unfolded.

“All I could do was just start crying. I was shaking,” Bolden said.

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During the shooting, his mom was getting the car, which led him to think the worst.

“It was very traumatizing and it took me a while to get back to where I am today,” Bolden said.

Bolden recounts having to stand “alongside empty areas for easier access to exits because of minor symptoms of PTSD.”

He reflected on the trauma in the essay he wrote, which won him the scholarship.

He also wrote about another shooting in which a school peer was gunned down in her neighborhood, but he didn’t wish to elaborate further because he wants to give the family their privacy.

Bolden said he’s learned to overcome these hardships and focus on the next step in his life. He encourages his peers, who too have struggled with gun violence, to do so.

“It all helped me realize that time is cut short. Life isn’t always promised to you,” Bolden said.

Bolden will be going to the University of Florida in June. He said he will be majoring in Computer Science.

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