Photo and Article Credit: Kavitha Cardoza, WAMU Public Radio
Sharnika Glasby, 18, is one of those students who squeezed every moment out of high school. She was in Model UN, Shakespeare scholars, and choir. She was an athlete, taking part in softball, volleyball, and track. And she was an honor roll student, maintaining a 3.7 GPA.
"I do like being a good student," she says. "When I graduate, I want to be able to say I was in the top five or number one, which I was in the beginning of this year."
Sharnika was the top student in her school, Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering High School in Northeast D.C. But then an incident happened. "The incident" is Sharnika's shorthand for the day she was shot on her way to school, a few months ago.
"It was a normal day; I was rushing out of the house to the bus stop, my iPod in my hand changing the song."
She was a few blocks from her home, close to the Anacostia Metro station, when suddenly a man came up to her. Sharnika says the man was wearing a mask, and he ordered her to give up her bag. She says it didn't register at first, but then five seconds later the gun went off. "All I hear is a sound. A loud popping sound."