More than 200 middle school students and their teachers learned how to better recognize bullying behaviors and then challenge and confront them during the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL’s) recently held Beau and Abe Merfish No Place for Hate® Youth Summit. The Summit was held Oct. 16 at Westchester Academy for International Studies, 901 Yorkchester.
As part of the one-day program for seventh- and eighth-grade students, those selected to attend enjoyed a musical about teenage “in” crowd bias commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera. The work, titled I Am Called ‘Me’, was performed by students from the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston ISD. Students also met in private breakout sessions where they created action plans to address issues like bullying and name-calling.
The Summit’s many partners included the Safe and Drug-free Schools and Communities departments in Houston and Spring Branch ISDs, HISD’s Character Education Department, Houston Grand Opera, Jewish Women International, SBISD’s Guidance and Counseling Department, the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, University of Houston Graduate School of Social Work and Westchester Academy, the host campus.
The Summit sponsors were the Merfishes, Aramark, H-E-B, the Dawn M. Gross Memorial Fund, Fund for the Future of the ADL Southwest Region, Houston Endowment Inc., Rochele Alan, Julie and Scott Jacobson, and UH’s Office of the President. For more information, please call Dena Marks at 713-627-3490.