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Students Push Back Against Erika Kirk’s Planned High School Visit
Erika Kirk is shifting her focus to high school audiences after drawing a limited crowd at a recent state university event.
At a high school in Phoenix, students are voicing strong opposition to her upcoming appearance, with many questioning whether her message is appropriate for a school setting.
Following a low turnout at a Turning Point USA campus event, Erika has scheduled a visit to Pinnacle High School in north Phoenix next week. However, the response from students and parents has been far from welcoming.
“I’m not really sure why she’s coming here,” said Francisco Sanchez, a senior at the school. “The topics she discusses feel too extreme for a school environment. I believe there are more suitable speakers who could represent us better.”
Erika pictured at Charlie's funeral, which was held in Arizona at the Arizona Cardinals stadium.Daniel Cole/REUTERS
“It’s a little crazy because I would never have expected someone like her to show up at a high school,” high school senior Kasandra Acosta told the outlet.
“I’m pretty shocked. Honestly, I’m surprised it’s even happening,” she added.
Parents of students enrolled at the school told they were concerned about security--especially after earlier this week, Erika, who became CEO of her late husband Charlie Kirk’s TPUSA organization after his September killing, skipped an event at the University of Georgia over safety concerns.
“It’s not just your average citizen coming over to speak to the club. She brings politics with her, she brings division with her, just because everybody in America is divided,” Bobbe Noland, a parent of a Pinnacle student, told the Republic.
Vance, the second in line to the presidency, still attended the event earlier this week, despite security concerns with Erika.Jonathan Ernst/REUTERS
School officials told parents this week that students would see an increased security presence on campus during the event, prompting some parents to also demand that the school move her visit to after-school hours.
Phoenix Police told 12 News that since Erika’s visit was a private event, the responsibility for securing it rests with the event organizers and must be coordinated with the school district.
“We regularly work with community partners to support public safety during gatherings. As with any event, our officers will continue to monitor activity, review available information, and adjust deployment strategies as needed to help ensure a safe environment for students, staff, and the surrounding community,” a police spokesperson said in a statement.
Her speaking appearance has been organized with the school’s Club America chapter, a TPUSA-affiliated organization. The right-wing nonprofit is headquartered in Phoenix, and she and Charlie lived in the nearby affluent suburb of Scottsdale for many years.
The Daily Beast reached out to TPUSA for comment on the controversy.
Students at Pinnacle High School are not too enthused by Erika's visit to campus next week.Daniel Cole/REUTERS
It’s not the first time she and her late husband stirred up controversy in Arizona’s public schools.
In 2021, Erika and Charlie raged against the Scottsdale Unified School District’s mask policy during the COVID-19 pandemic at a school board meeting. At the time, the couple did not have any children yet.
During the meeting, Charlie called the mask policy a “self-righteous measure” enacted to “abuse the children.”
“There is zero evidence to show that children are at a significant risk of catching or dying from the Chinese coronavirus,” he claimed, adding, “You have awoke a sleeping giant. I hope you enjoy your masked, short-term future here while it still lasts.”
The Kirks had welcomed their first child in August 2022, a year after they complained to a school board about its COVID policies.Samuel Corum/Getty Images
Erika, who grew up in Scottsdale but attended private Catholic school, went as far as to demand a moment of silence at the board meeting for “the kids who will end up committing suicide this upcoming school year in 2021 and 2022 because of your reckless and ego-centered leadership and lack thereof.”
“As Christians, we are told to pray for our leaders and that is what I will do every day,” she said. “May God have mercy on your souls for everything you guys are doing in this leadership position.”One Scottsdale parent called them out, pointing out that they didn’t even have children who were enrolled in the city’s public schools.
“While the agitators from outside our district would have you think that masks mandates are only in place at liberal public schools, the list of private and parochial schools also enacting mask mandates is far from short,” the parent said. “I applaud SUSD’s governing board.”
Mary opened the presidential suite just minutes before her wedding—and found Ethan in bed with Vanessa. Vanessa pulled the blanket around herself. “Mary, this isn't what it looks like.”
Mary opened the presidential suite just minutes before her wedding—and found Ethan in bed with Vanessa.
Vanessa pulled the blanket around herself.
“Mary, this isn't what it looks like.”
Mary stared at them without screaming.
“It looks exactly like the end of your lives.”
Ethan rushed toward her, desperate to explain.
But Mary stepped backward, locked the door, and calmly pulled a phone from her silver clutch.
“Put the phone down and let me explain.”
Mary never argued.
She activated speakerphone, removed her engagement ring, and placed it on the table.
Then she gave one instruction:
“Cancel the wedding—and transfer every share out of Ethan's name.”
Ethan froze.
Vanessa stopped buttoning her shirt.
👇 Why did Ethan understand the consequences before Vanessa did?
👇 What Mary's single phone call just triggered continues in the pinned comment.
The story has been completed with a final ending. Read the full story here 👉:
The mistress thought she had won Ethan, until Grace’s three brothers arrived and recognized exactly who she was.
The slap was so loud that the anniversary candles trembled.
Grace Walker did not scream. She did not fall. She simply stood beside the dining table with one hand pressed against her burning cheek and the other wrapped instinctively around the small curve of her stomach. Across from her, her husband was breathing hard. Ethan Walker looked almost as shocked by what he had done as she was.
Almost.
Behind him stood Lauren Pierce, the woman Ethan had brought into their home on the night of their fifth wedding anniversary. The woman wearing a black cocktail dress, Ethan's favorite perfume, and the faintest smile on her lips.
"Don't speak to Lauren like that again," Ethan snapped, his chest heaving under his tailored linen shirt.
Grace slowly lifted her eyes. She didn't cry. And that was when Lauren's smile disappeared. Because everyone who knew Grace knew the same things about her. She was gentle. Patient. Quiet. The kind of woman who remembered birthdays, sent handwritten thank-you notes, and apologized when someone else bumped into her at the grocery store.
But there was one thing almost nobody in Ethan's world knew about Grace. She had three older brothers. And years ago, those three men had made her a promise.
We will stay out of your marriage because you asked us to. But if he ever makes you afraid to call us, the promise is over.
Grace had never called. Not during the lonely dinners. Not during Ethan's late-night "business meetings." Not when strange perfume began appearing on his shirts. Not even when she discovered that he had been deleting messages from Lauren.
But twenty minutes before Ethan slapped her, Grace had quietly pressed one button on her phone. She hadn't called her brothers. She had sent three words to a group chat that had been dormant for five years: I need you.
They were already on their way.
Three hours earlier, Grace had been standing in the kitchen of their sprawling brick home in Charlotte's Myers Park neighborhood, arranging rosemary around a platter of Ethan's favorite roasted tenderloin. She had spent the afternoon preparing everything herself. Five years. Five years since she had walked down the aisle toward a nervous young entrepreneur who could barely afford the small lakefront wedding they had wanted.
Back then, Ethan had not owned Walker Development. He had owned a laptop, a used pickup, forty thousand dollars in business debt, and a dream. Grace had loved him before the money. She had sat beside him while he pitched investors. She had driven him to the hospital when his mother got sick. When his first major project nearly collapsed, Grace quietly sold jewelry inherited from her grandmother to cover payroll. Ethan never knew. She had never wanted him to feel indebted to her.
Tonight, Grace had planned to give him something far more important than another anniversary gift. Inside a small cream-colored box beside his plate was an ultrasound photograph. Their baby. She was seventeen weeks pregnant. She had hidden the pregnancy only because Ethan had been so distant lately that she kept waiting for the perfect moment. Somewhere inside her, Grace had known no perfect moment was coming.
At 8:47 p.m., headlights swept across the front windows. She smiled despite herself. Then the front door opened. Two sets of footsteps entered. Ethan appeared first. Lauren followed. Grace stared. Ethan loosened his tie.
"Grace."
She looked past him. "Who's she?"
Lauren answered before he did. "Lauren Pierce."
Grace already knew the name. Senior consultant. Thirty-two. Recently divorced. Three hundred and twelve messages exchanged with Ethan over six weeks, according to the phone bill he had forgotten was still connected to their family account.
Ethan tossed his keys onto the console. "Lauren is working with me on the Southgate acquisition."
"At nine o'clock on our anniversary?"
Lauren smiled. "Some professional relationships don't keep office hours."
The room seemed to contract around Grace. She looked at Ethan. "Are you sleeping with her?"
His jaw tightened. "Not tonight, Grace."
"That's not an answer."
"I'm tired of being interrogated in my own house."
"I'm not interrogating you. I'm asking my husband whether he's having an affair."
Lauren crossed her arms. "Maybe you should give him some room."
Grace turned toward her. "You don't get to tell me how to speak to my husband."
Lauren gave a tiny laugh. "Your husband?"
Grace felt something cold settle in her chest. Lauren stepped beside Ethan and slipped her hand around his arm. Ethan did not remove it.
"I think she still doesn't understand," Lauren murmured.
Grace looked at him. "Understand what?"
"Understand that you're an anchor holding him back, Grace," Lauren said smoothly, her eyes gleaming with triumphant maliciousness. "Ethan hasn't belonged to you for a long time. Walker Development is moving into tier-one private equity, and a quiet little housewife who bakes pot roasts doesn't fit the portfolio. Show some dignity and pack your bags."
Grace stared at Lauren, then shifted her gaze to Ethan. "Is this what you want? You brought your mistress into our house on our anniversary to throw me out?"
"Watch your mouth!" Ethan shouted, stepping forward. "Lauren is a partner at Vance Capital! Her family controls twenty percent of the commercial zoning rights in this city! She has done more for my company in two months than you've done in five years!"
"I gave you five years of my life," Grace said, her voice dropping into a register so quiet, so steady, it made Ethan pause. "I loved you when you were nobody."
"And that's your problem, Grace!" Ethan sneered, emboldened by the whiskey on his breath and the woman on his arm. "You always treated me like a nobody! You wanted me quiet, humble, and manageable. Lauren sees who I really am."
Grace looked at Lauren's dismissive smile, then at Ethan's flushed, arrogant face. She reached out and deliberately swept the cream-colored box containing the ultrasound off the dining table. It hit the hardwood floor with a soft click, sliding under the sideboard.
"Get out of my house, Lauren," Grace said quietly.
"Make me," Lauren scoffed, crossing her arms.
Grace took one step toward Lauren. "I said, get—"
That was when Ethan snapped. He lunged forward, his open hand striking Grace across the face with terrifying force.
The impact echoed off the vaulted ceilings.
Silence fell over the room—thick, suffocating, and absolute.
Ethan stood frozen, his hand still suspended in the air. He looked at his hand, then at the bright crimson mark blooming across Grace's cheek. For a fraction of a second, panic flickered in his eyes. "Grace... I... you pushed me—"
Grace didn't cry. She didn't scream. She simply pressed her left hand against her burning cheek, her right hand remaining firmly planted on her abdomen. She looked at Ethan not with anger, but with a profound, terrifying emptiness.
Before Ethan could say another word, three dark luxury SUVs pulled onto the cobblestone driveway outside, their tires crunching violently against the stone.
