Summit on violence, racism
to take place at high school
By dave benjamin
Staff Writer
COLTS NECK — The first county-wide student summit to address the issues of racism and violence will be held at Colts Neck High School today.
"Identified school leaders from over 20 school districts are attending the summit to exchange information about racism and violence," said Todd Stoner, chairman of the summit event.
Students were selected by their school administrators based on their demonstrated leadership abilities in student government, sports and other extracurricular activities.
Stoner, a Colts Neck High School junior, wrote a winning grant application after reading about an act of racism in Red Bank.
"It really upset me that people still act that way," said the program chairman. "Instead of criticism, students should respect one another and work as a team."
Doug Daubert, student assistance counselor and adviser, and Keith Hawkins, a nationally known youth speaker, have been helping to plan the all-day event. Daubert and Hawkins met last year when Hawkins came to the school to speak about diversity at a Unity Day event. He will be the keynote speaker at today’s event.
Hawkins draws on stories relating to his past in order to illustrate the impact of violence and racism on youth. Hawkins, 29, is a black American who was homeless as a teen.
"The toughest challenge in my youth was growing up in a violent alcohol- and drug-infested environment," he said.
Hawkins speaks to 200,000 students each year and was one of the first speakers to address students at Columbine High School in Colorado after the shootings at the school in April 1999. He has written a book called Teen Power and Beyond.
Several club members have also helped to organize the first summit. They include Nikki Esposito, Spiro Galiatsatos, Anna Strahs, Kaetlin McAnneny, Victor Hernandez and Nancy Alario.
Students attending today’s summit will be working in small groups which will be facilitated by students from the six schools in the Freehold Regional High School District. Those students received facilitator training and summit information earlier this month during an intra-district mini-summit.
Working in small groups, students involved in the summit will identify problems encountered at their home schools and will be working on how to handle them.
"We can learn better ways to deal with racism and violence by learning from each other what works and what doesn’t work," explained Stoner.
At the end of the summit, the Colts Neck Human Relations Club has planned to distribute information packets that will include a list of contacts and summaries of the ideas and procedures discussed during today’s event.
"Todd has done an outstanding job organizing this summit," said Daubert. "He’s bringing the county’s top student leaders together in an open dialogue about their schools’ experiences with racism and violence.
"By discussing how real problems are handled in their schools, students can share proven methods that work and those that need to be tweaked. By learning from each other, they won’t have to reinvent the wheel," the adviser said.
The summit is sponsored by the Colts Neck High School Human Relations Club which has been funded by a $3,000 grant from the V-Free Youth Initiative of the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Commission, which is designed to help eliminate violence, vandalism and victimization in New Jersey schools and communities.
The commission runs the mini-grant program to encourage young people to develop their own anti-violence campaigns.