A Berg Middle School student was brought to tears Monday morning in an eighth grade teacher’s classroom when asking Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke a question about gun violence in schools and how to ensure the safety of herself and others around her.

Visibly emotional when reciting her question to the 2020 hopeful, eighth grader Milan Underberg apologized for pausing a few times to compose herself and for barely being able to ask: “What actions will you take to protect people like me and my classmates from this happening?”

O’Rourke said he was glad Underberg was able to talk about this issue “in the most personal” and “powerful terms” possible, claiming it is the only way changes can occur. So often in United States’ history, he added, those needed or “big” changes “so often came from young people who forced the issue.”

The middle school student prefaced her question by calling to attention the April 30 shooting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the subsequent heroic actions of student Riley Howell, who tackled the suspected gunman at the cost of his own life to allow his classmates time to escape unharmed.

Underberg also spoke of 19-year-old Sydney Aeillo, who killed herself one year after the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., underscoring the effects these traumatic events may have on survivors.

Pivoting toward his proposed solutions, if he were elected president, O’Rourke said he would push for all states to adopt universal background checks to help reduce gun violence. Although he identified Iowa as a “proud, gun owning state,” O’Rourke said he is also in favor of banning the sale of assault weapons to civilians.

O’Rourke’s visit to the Newton middle school and its students was facilitated by eighth grade teacher Tyler Stewart, who reached out to several presidential candidates’ campaigns in hopes that students would be given chances to share political topics that are on their minds.

Stewart’s civics class followed several campaigns in the 2018 election cycle, including O’Rourke’s race against incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Stewart said the national attention the race had received made it easy for his class to follow and discuss in-depth.

Even though they cannot legally vote in the elections they are covering, Stewart said his students are interested in politics and often discuss issues and recent headlines to further the conversation. Being the ones driving that conversation with a 2020 candidate is “a new experience for them.”

Especially so for Underberg, whose emotional question recorded on video circulated through national news outlets.

Stewart said in a phone interview Monday, “Her question is all over the internet now. You can look it up and it’s got some 50,000 views. That’s the kind of stuff that makes a difference today. And they got to see that first-hand. So it was pretty neat.”

Happy with the former representative’s reply, Underberg later told the Newton Daily News she “just really wanted to ask this question” and is disgusted by the violence witnessed in schools across the country.

“War shouldn’t be waged in classrooms,” she said.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com