Nessa Bleill sits in her sophomore-year bedroom with posters taped to the yellow walls and pop music playing softly in the background.
On the desk is a photo of a curly-haired dog named Mac and a round dish holding jewelry. Stacked on top of the jewelry is a red pin with “survivor” printed in bold, white letters.
Bleill was 16 when she survived the 2022 Independence Day Parade mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois.
“My whole family was there. It's a parade that we would go to every single year, something I held very close to my heart, so it [was] always something that I looked forward to in the summers. And after that happened, I was kind of in a state of shock, and I didn't really know what to do, but I knew that this was a moment that was 100% going to change my life,” Bleill told The Daily Cardinal.
Bleill and her family were in attendance for the July 4 parade when a man opened fire, killing six people and wounding at least 30. The Bleill family was not physically harmed during the shooting, but they live with the effects today.
Later, her mother became involved with Moms Demand Action, which inspired Bleill to start a chapter at her high school.
Bleill founded the University of Wisconsin-Madison chapter of Students Demand Action in the fall semester of her freshman year. Now a sophomore studying political science and communication arts, Bleill heads gun control advocacy at UW-Madison.
At first, she was hesitant to bring SDA to UW-Madison.
“I wasn't going to do it initially because I was a freshman ,and I was like, ‘who's going to listen to me?’ But I went home for winter break and the next morning I woke up to news of the Abundant Life shooting here in Madison.” Bleill said. “I immediately created an Instagram account that day [and] was filling out the paperwork. That was my action point.”
Emma Donohue, events lead for SDA at UW-Madison, said has been inspired by Bleill. The pair serve on SDA’s executive board together and have grown as friends. Donohue noted that Bleill saw something wrong in the world and wanted to make a change.
“Instead of just continuing on, she really took it upon herself to really take action, and not only change her community, [but also] change other people's communities,” Donohue said.
Bleill said knew she had the “tools necessary" to be able to start SDA at UW-Madison. She noticed a rise in comments online and those of people in her life wondering what they could do and how they could help in the wake of the Abundant Life Christian School shooting in December 2024.
She noted the proximity to the Wisconsin Capitol as a large part of her motivation to start SDA at UW-Madison. Bleill serves as an intern at the Capitol working with constituent communications for Rep. Russell Goodwin, D-Milwaukee.
Bleill spoke at the Wisconsin Capitol Oct. 21 to “urge elected officials to support a new raft of gun violence prevention bills aimed at gun trafficking.” She’s been speaking in front of large crowds and crowds involving legislatures since the Highland Park shooting.
Bleill said she is “deeply affected” by gun violence and “doesn’t want it to happen to anyone else.”
Bleill previously worked with Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison. Roys spoke at a UW-Madison SDA meeting on Oct. 8 and spoke at the same news conference as Bleill in August alongside Rep. Brienne Brown, D-Whitewater.
“Nessa’s courage in speaking out against gun violence is exactly the kind of leadership we need. Her organizing work will help make a better, safer world for all of us,” Roys said in a statement.
Bleill, Brown and Roys also announced proposed legislation in August to prohibit firearms on college and university campuses in the state of Wisconsin.
Donohue wanted others to know the drive behind Bleill’s leadership, saying that Bleill is “just that motivated.”
“Nessa thought she was going into college and she was going to be a chemistry major. Then she was like, ‘no there's so much action and so many things that I know I can do.’ Then she changed to political science,” Donohue said. “So I think the fact that she's just so inspiring and her drive and her effort to make a change is really inspiring.”
Bleill is looking forward to getting [others out to] vote this next election to flip the senate towards Democratic representatives and get gun violence prevention bills passed. She hopes to continue her gun violence prevention advocacy the rest of her life.
After sharing the next steps in her advocacy journey, Bleill paused and put her hands into her lap.
“However, I hope it's not my life,” Bleill said. “I hope we fix this issue by then.”
