Dylan Zavala
Age 18
Chicago, Illinois
Playing the lead in his own story
A year before, he had played the lead in the Storycatchers’ production of “Living Life Backwards,” which was based on his own story of getting kicked out of school and then turning his life around. He graduated from Curie Metropolitan High School and had just been hired by Portillo’s Restaurant.
That summer, he was out in West Pershing on what became Chicago, Illinois’ most violent weekend in more than two years. Six hundred police officers were added to patrol.
On Aug. 10, 2018, Dylan Zavala, 18, was shot in the head. People mourned that a talented writer was lost.
