Students throughout Pittsburgh’s North Hills have persisted in organizing events and countering hate in their communities as they prepare to convene for a conference later this month at Acrisure Stadium with more than two dozen schools.
The event is a follow-up to last October’s Eradicate Hate Global Summit in Pittsburgh, which bills itself as the largest anti-hate conference in the world. Part of that event involved a student summit, featuring high schoolers from 29 school districts discussing how to oppose hate and violence in their areas. The upcoming event will allow students to come together again before the next iteration of the global summit in September.
Local students said they will have plenty to discuss.
Brynlee Wieseckel, a junior at North Hills High School, said last year’s student summit was “devastating” but also inspiring. It featured a showing of “Repairing the World: Stories From the Tree of Life,” a documentary about victims and survivors of the worst antisemitic attack in American history, which left 11 dead at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill.
Wieseckel and classmate Janiya Cassell, both officers in the school’s Diversity Club, said the conference motivated them to do something in their own schools.
Soon after, with the help of other students such as senior Lyla Hughes and freshman Scarlett McCarthy, North Hills offered its own screenings of the film, which Wieseckel said “resonated” with students and teachers.
But beyond concrete events, LaMont Lyons, North Hills’ director of student and community engagement, said the district has embraced a mantra: Do no harm.
Lyons developed that phrase, originally lyrics from a song, into a rap, which several students recited on the morning announcements at the high school.
To foster further engagement, students launched Do No Harm Week in January, giving out T-shirts and bracelets and signing pledges to stand against hate and do no harm through their actions, words or thoughts.
“You can’t just make change overnight, but it’s definitely starting to impact our larger community,” Lyons said.
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McCarthy, who runs the Diversity Club’s social media accounts, said the week was a success, garnering interest and support from their peers. But in their roles as organizers, McCarthy said teachers and students also have begun to look to her and others as leaders in the school.
Lyons said they have “earned” that status.
But their efforts, Wieseckel said, have not been restricted to the high school or the district. The group has participated in smaller student conferences in South Fayette and Woodland Hills in addition to working with nonprofits like United Way.
Lyons said a collaborative event with students and teachers from nearby Shaler Area also is in the works.
“In a way, this is like a big friend group that keeps extending on and on and branching out,” Wieseckel said. “I love it.”
But especially important to the group is their work with elementary schools in the district. In those schools, Wieseckel said students have been very receptive to the “Do no harm” mantra, and McCarthy said middle schoolers regularly contact her about the group’s initiatives.
Nearby, Hampton High School students said they also have visited their elementary schools to teach the children about “acceptance” and different cultures.
Hampton junior Kulthoom Dinani said high schoolers played music from various world traditions and taught their younger peers words in different world languages during a visit to Wyland Elementary School.
“Stuff like that is little, but hopefully can make a big impact on how these kids view diversity, and hopefully (they) are able to carry that forward when we’re not here,” she said.
Senior Gaby Spinola said the reception at the schools has generally been positive, and she hopes events like these can become a more concrete part of the elementary curricula.
While the high schoolers educate younger students, Hampton High School teacher Claire Aloe said she hopes to host survivors from the Tree of Life shooting to educate the older students.
At Hampton, a collaboration between the Black Student Union and the Multicultural Student Association also has hosted potlucks and plans to hold a screening of the Tree of Life documentary soon, according to Hampton junior Matteo Foronda.
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Currently though, Foronda said the group is working with the school’s Women’s Empowerment Club during Women’s History Month.
At the upcoming conference, Aloe said the students will discuss what they have accomplished so far but also “look for inspiration.”
And that is exactly its purpose, according to Nick Haberman, the coordinator of civic engagement and anti-hate education for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit. A former Shaler Area social studies teacher, he said students at the conference will “share what’s working” and “talk about obstacles.”
“Schools across the region are breaking down these traditional sports rivalries that exist and building community through an effort and desire to have safer, more compassionate schools and communities,” Haberman said.
A prime organizer of the larger Eradicate Hate Global Summit since its genesis three years ago, he said the event came as a direct response to the Tree of Life shooting.
Eradicate Hate and the AIU, which organize the student summit with the support of the Tree of Life nonprofit, do not provide a curriculum for students on how exactly they should organize in their districts, Haberman said. Rather, he said the organizations exist as a “support” for young people as they determine the best course of action in their communities.
At the upcoming event, Haberman said he is expecting students from 26 schools throughout the region.
“When we progress toward a better, safer, kinder future, then we can see hope in the region,” Haberman said. “And whenever we allow young people to share that hope, it’s a positive feedback loop that inspires other young people.”
The upcoming conference will take place March 26 at Acrisure Stadium.