Serious social ills motivate Miami student to pursue public service and leadership
Gun violence prevention and LGBTQIA+ activism gain Peren Tiemann ’24 national attention
Serious social ills motivate Miami student to pursue public service and leadership
It wasn’t a passion, or even a personal interest, that first motivated Peren Tiemann ’24 to pursue public service and leadership. It was, rather, what Tiemann, a Public Administration major at Miami University, saw as a “necessary necessity” to strive for social change after hearing about a shocking situation.
“I was drawn to public service after hearing the news of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas mass shooting in (Parkland) Florida,” they said. “For me, that shooting was a shock. It broke me out of my bubble. I was 13 at the time, but that was when I started paying attention to the news and to what was actually going on.”
The Parkland incident has since become known as the deadliest mass shooting at a high school in U.S. history, and it’s among the serious social ills that motivated Tiemann to take action. Because in 2022 alone, more than 48,000 Americans died from gun injuries, and it’s become such a growing problem that the US surgeon general just declared gun violence to be a public health crisis.
But Tiemann’s activism also goes beyond gun control alone. Because Tiemann is also among the nation’s leading LGBTQIA+ student advocates to address the link between gun violence and the crisis of queer youth.
“I see so many young queer people who are considering suicide,” Tiemann said. “And for them, the only barrier is that they don't have access to a gun. So, if I can make sure that young people are not able to access a gun when they're in that place of crisis, that is really important to me.”
In 2018, after the Parkland shooting, and while Tiemann was still in high school, they began working on active shooter drills to help both teachers and students become more trauma informed.
At this time, Tiemann also joined Students Demand Action, which is the nation’s largest grassroots youth-led gun violence prevention organization. Soon after, Tiemann also founded a local chapter in their high school in Oregon, where they also began advocating for legislation and policy change at the state house level.
By the time they came to Miami to study Public Administration, Tiemann had already gained national attention. They were welcomed in as part of Miami’s Presidential Fellows Program, and so far their work around both gun prevention and LGBTQIA+ advocacy has been covered by NPR, Town & Country magazine, Business Insider, USA Today, CNN, NYC Pride, and more.
More recently, Tiemann was also nominated for the prestigious Truman Scholarship, which is the nation's top award for future public servants, especially those already striving to create change.
“I look at Peren with tremendous admiration for not accepting the way the world is,” said Zeb Baker, director of the Miami University Honors College. “Peren has taken on some controversial stances and has been duly recognized for their courage. The thing I find remarkable is their willingness to continue working toward the things they believe in and to really live the example they're trying to set in terms of leadership and service.”
This past spring, Tiemann graduated from Miami after completing their entire undergraduate degree requirements in only two years. And this fall, they’re headed to law school at Lewis and Clark College in Oregon – their goal being to pursue a career in legal services to help people access the law, especially in areas that often seem inaccessible to others. Further in the future, Tiemann also hopes to run for public office one day.
“The thing that keeps me motivated is that gun violence and violence against queer people is such a prevalent issue, and it's only getting worse,” Tiemann said. “We've seen in the past few years many anti-queer bills being passed across the country. So this is a matter working toward a future where everyone has the ability to feel safe. And for me, leading is something that is necessary in order to make a change.”
