Education
After Fleeing Violence in Guatemala, Their Child Was Killed in a U.S. School
Josselin Corea Escalante was 9 when she and her mother and younger brother left Guatemala to seek asylum in the United States, believing it would offer them safety.
They ended up in Tennessee, where Josselin — whose family calls her Dallana, her middle name — celebrated turning 15 in 2023 with a spring quinceañera in a Nashville ballroom.
But last week, another student shot and killed Josselin, 16, in her high school cafeteria. Now her family, still waiting for an asylum decision, is questioning whether it is worth staying. The main reason they made the harrowing trip to the United States — on foot, nearly two months — was fear that Josselin and her brother would be kidnapped or killed by gangs in Guatemala.
“We had a dream for a better life,” her father, German Corea, said in Spanish this week. “But the reality is that it’s not better anywhere. In Guatemala, you’ve never heard of someone killing someone in school.”
He and his wife have already made one wrenching decision: to send Josselin’s body back to Guatemala for burial, a way to guarantee that they will be reunited if they decide — or are forced — to leave the United States. Mr. Corea came to the country before his wife and children and is not part of the asylum case, so he is at more risk of being deported.
“This is the country that took her away from me,” Mr. Corea said. “And if one day we go back to our country, she’ll be there with us.”
Josselin had been thriving in Nashville, where she loved to sing and play soccer. She had once turned down a three-day trip to make sure she did not miss school. She wanted to become a doctor, her uncle, Carlos Corea, said: “A doctor saves lives, and this was not fair to her.”
On Jan. 22, a student who the police said had espoused hateful rhetoric online brought a pistol to Antioch High School in South Nashville. He opened fire, killing Josselin and injuring another student before shooting himself. The police have not said whether the shooter was targeting Josselin.
A month into 2025, there have been at least 15 shootings on or near a school campus, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database.
The loss of Josselin, who frequently translated for her family, has driven some of them to speak out.
“I am not scared — I’m telling the truth, I’m telling people how I feel,” Carlos Corea said in Spanish.
That is why he and another of Josselin’s uncles, Juan Corea, found themselves on the steps of the Tennessee State Capitol on Monday, surrounded by a crowd of Democratic lawmakers, students and gun control activists. As they left the nearby church where they held a funeral service for Josselin, they saw people gathered with pictures of their niece and understood what was going on.
“We never thought that we’d be in this position, but we wanted to give people our message,” Carlos Corea said later. The two men carried pictures of Josselin, in her quinceañera tiara and a glittering red gown.
There have been protests for gun control in Nashville before, most notably in 2023 after three third graders and three staff members were killed at a private Christian school. But with lawmakers arriving to debate the creation of a state immigration czar, the crowd at this protest repeatedly tied together the threat of immigration enforcement with their fears of gun violence.
Through a translator, Carlos Corea spoke to the crowd on behalf of his family. As they cheered, he raised a fist in the air.
In the silence of the home where they gathered for weekly meals, Josselin’s relatives have been unable to rest. Her Uncle Juan has been thinking about the dance they shared during her birthday celebration, where he told Josselin he loved her. Her father is contemplating activism in her name.
“We have support, but what I tell all parents that have had their children taken away in schools: Don’t let it stay that way,” German Corea said. “Continue doing what you can so that there is justice for our children. If we remain with our hands tied, this will continue to happen again.”
While Antioch High School has reopened, with an additional school resource officer and new metal detectors, Josselin’s cousins who attended the school with her are too afraid to return. They will enroll soon at a new school, family members said.
On Thursday, Josselin’s pink coffin was loaded onto a plane for her journey home to Guatemala. There, her grandparents and aunt were waiting for her.
In our national memory, George Washington is a mythic figure, cast in metal, carved in stone. His leadership, first as general, then as president, is so intertwined with the roots of this country that it is sometimes hard to separate the man from the idea of America. How does one imagine the living presence of such an icon, much less embody him?
There is a small fraternity of men bold enough to try. At historical parks and commemorations from Virginia to Seattle, these interpreters (their preferred term) transform themselves into Washington. Each has his own approach, but what all their representations seek to capture is a legacy that has endured from his time to ours. If America, at least in part, is an idea, then our national project becomes, like theirs, an act of interpretation, an imperfect attempt to translate some idealized vision into the messy reality of our own time.
— Ezekiel Kweku
“By some strange quirk
of genetics, I have
Washington’s exact
dimensions. Where my
sleeves fall on my wrist,
the size of my chest, the
size of my thighs, where
the breeches fall to my
knees, are all identical.”
John Koopman, 67, often performs
while riding his horse, Bear. He
has portrayed Washington for 20 years.
James Fryer, 70, wears a replica of a general’s uniform that Washington designed himself. He recently completed training to portray Washington for the nonprofit Historic Philadelphia.
“Some people portray George as a marble statue. I don’t do a marble George. I am interested in talking to everyone, even those who yell at me because George was a slave owner. I want to respect them, try to educate them, or maybe even inspire them.”
Vern Frykholm, 77, was moved to bring his interpretation of Washington to Washington State, where he lives, after seeing a 2011 performance in Pennsylvania.
Dean Malissa, 73, signs his personal
correspondence, including emails,
as Washington did: “Your Most Humble
and Obedient Servant.” He became
the Official George Washington
at Mount Vernon in 2004, and held
that role for nearly 20 years.
“I describe him sometimes as just a dude. I look at him and think, I could see myself in the same world, making similar bad decisions or similar good decisions.”
Daniel Cross, 39, portrayed a young Washington at Virginia’s Colonial Williamsburg until last year. He now works with organizations around the country.
Curt Radabaugh, 62, has 13,000 history books in his personal library, including several hundred about Washington. He is a veteran of the U.S. Marines and a retired police officer.
“He’s a mentor, a father
figure, and not only in the
sense that he’s a patriarch
of the country. Because
I grew up without a
father, he kind of became
my surrogate father.”
Brian Hilton, 58, says he researches
Washington’s era every morning before
his children get up and at night after
they go to bed. He is a high school history
teacher near Richmond, Va.
Daniel Shippey, 57, partners on interpretations with his wife, Kelly, who portrays Martha Washington. Kelly researched 18th-century hair techniques to create her husband’s costume hairstyle. They live in Virginia.
“You’re playing the myth of George Washington as well as the historical figure. I make his voice a little firmer and deeper than it probably was in real life. I play him a little funnier than he probably was. In reality, if you came to see him, he probably wouldn’t talk to you as much as I do.”
Doug Thomas, 53, is Washington’s second cousin nine times removed.
John Godzieba, 67, has reenacted
the crossing of the Delaware as
Washington every Christmas for the
past 16 years at Pennsylvania’s
Washington Crossing Historic Park.
“In many ways I don’t look like him. My eye color is wrong. My nose is wrong. My hair color is wrong. I wouldn’t have cast myself in this role.”
Ron Carnegie, 64, has portrayed Washington at Colonial Williamsburg for 20 years.
Ryan Williams, 37, is a veteran who specializes in playing a young Washington during the French and Indian War. He lives in Virginia.
“Some people portray
Washington almost
like a superhero.
I like to bring out that
he has faults. He’s a
person like you or me.”
Michael Grillo, 64, is a historical
tailor who hand-sews his own clothes
for reenactments. He also makes
period props, including two American
battle flags and pewter mugs
engraved with Washington’s crest.
Martin Schoeller is a photographer and director known for his close-up portraits of everyone from world leaders and celebrities to female bodybuilders. For this project, he used a large format camera to photograph 13 historical interpreters of George Washington — many of whom arrived in full uniform — over three days in Virginia and New York City.
Additional reporting by Tenzin D. Tsagong. Interviews have been edited and condensed for length and clarity. Top quotes from Brian Hilton, Daniel Shippey and Daniel Cross.
Produced by Sara Barrett, Danny DeBelius and Sam Whitney. Additional production by Olivia James.
One task the robots can take from us? Cleaning. Especially hard-to-access windows. So when writers Caroline Mullen and Evan Dent found this little guy — whose government name is “EcoVacs Winbot Mini” — they were intrigued. Could he clean the uncleanable? Caroline and Evan put their robot friend to the test at both the Wirecutter office and a high-rise apartment. Is a robo-window cleaner more effective than scrubbing yourself?
new video loaded: School Year Cut Short and Aid Delivery Slowed Amid Fuel Crisis in Cuba
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June 22, 2026
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