Noelle Antonelli

Turning Point USA clubs have begun to sprout across the nation following the assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk.

According to the conservative youth organization’s website, TPUSA is dedicated to educating students about freedom.

“We are committed to identifying, educating, training, and organizing students to promote freedom,” junior Noelle Antonelli, president of the newly founded Nixa TPUSA chapter, said.

Antonelli said that Kirk’s death prompted her to start the group.

“After Charlie Kirk’s death, it really sparked something in me,” Antonelli said. “I really want to do something to change the school the way he changed other schools and other places around him. I didn’t even know that you could do Turning Point chapters until Erika Kirk addressed the nation. I was like, ‘Wow, that’s a really good idea. I really want to do that.’ ”

Senior Sutton Weaver, secretary of the Nixa TPUSA chapter, said that the reaction to Kirk’s death across the political spectrum was generally respectful.

“If they didn’t like him, they were sad that someone was murdered for just speaking out about their views,” Weaver said. “I don’t think he’s perfect. I mean, no one’s perfect. The only perfect person is Jesus, and he’s not around right now.”

In response to the club’s announcement, some were intrigued.

“There are close to at least 100 people that are interested in joining, maybe more,” Weaver said.

Although a part of TPUSA, the Nixa chapter has yet to find a staff member to serve as sponsor for the club.

“As soon as we find a sponsor, we’ll have meetings with the school,” Antonelli said. “But since we don’t have a sponsor, we have to do meetings outside of school, and I am not exactly sure when, but I’m working on our first meeting being sometime in the next few weeks.”
However, the club’s arrival sparked mixed reactions among students.

“[We] were talking, and we had heard about the Turning Point USA, starting up at Nixa, and we were just kind of like, ‘Why isn’t there something like that for us?’ Because we don’t necessarily agree with everything,” Junior Kayli Hazlewood said.

Hazlewood said that discussions surrounding Kirk have become more difficult for students critical of his beliefs.

“People are unwilling to talk about it if they know that you have a different opinion from them, and I can kind of see that in myself,” Hazelewood said. “I don’t necessarily want to talk with somebody who’s just going to tell me that I’m wrong all the time, but at the same time, I think it’s very important to open the floor to conversations.”

Variety of Opinion Represented at Charlie Kirk Vigil

More than a thousand people stood on the grounds of Missouri State University’s Plaster Student Union in remembrance of the conservative podcaster and co-founder of Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk, during a memorial on Sept. 22.

Both MSU’s and Glendale High School’s TPUSA chapters helped organize the vigil, and the Springfield Police Department reported roughly 1,500 in attendance.

“I’ve had this plan for about a week and a half,” Megan Hartman, president of the MSU TPUSA chapter, said. “I went to the Ozark vigil, and I was like, ‘OK, I have to plan it.’ ”

The event was not without controversy. Andrew Johnson, a senior at MSU, said that he’s ashamed of the vigil because it creates fear among students.

“At least speaking from most black organizations on campus, the way that we see people gathering for a man who spoke out heavily against our own people,” Johnson said. “We’re awfully disappointed that our university would allow something like this and the rhetoric that this portrays to us on campus.”

On the outskirts of the vigil stood Domnique Moore, a protester with a sign reading, “Stop immortalizing a racist, bigoted, white supremacist.” Moore was among the 20 million to tune in to the livestreamed national memorial.

“We can listen to Stephen Miller’s speech at his supposed Memorial,” Moore said. “It was very Mussolini-esque. He explicitly stated that he was immortalizing Charlie Kirk. I think that it is to the benefit of the right side to use political violence to call for an end to it when they are the ones perpetuating it.”

Some have been critical of Kirk’s attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), claiming he pushed a false narrative.
“I think that when we talk about DEI and we talk about equity, we aren’t talking about giving people free spots, but we’re talking about giving people free, equal opportunities to get to those spots, and the way that it’s been handled and the way that he handled it, to demonize people, to make it seem like we were getting handouts in the places that we couldn’t but at same time saying that black people … don’t work hard enough,” Johnson said.

Thomas Mutarelli, a freshman at MSU, said that he found it disappointing to see protesters at the vigil calling Kirk a racist.

“I’m very disappointed that people think that of him,” Mutarelli said. “He was nothing even close to that. He was honestly a gift given from God.”

In light of Kirk’s death, conversations about gun control have become ever-present.

“I am for carrying anywhere you go,” Mutarelli said. “I honestly believe that teachers in schools should actually be able to carry. It makes a safer environment. But with how our culture and environment are now, I think there will be more restrictions on campuses, unfortunately. … I don’t think there should be any more restrictions. I think an armed society is a safe society.”

Some people attribute Kirk’s popularity to Trump’s 2024 election victory.

“I love to follow men of the word, and I’m also very involved in politics,” Theresa Saunders, an attendant of the vigil, said. “So with the last election, he was definitely crucial in President Trump’s election. So that’s how I got to know Charlie.”