Oak Park students get lesson in tolerance

MARCH ON— Arielle Gillman, 17, leads fellow Oak Park High School students in a march across campus in support of acceptance and equal rights for all. The annual event is the culmination of a week of lectures, discussions and activities focusing on acceptance. IRIS SMOOT Acorn Newspapers Acceptance was the theme of a series of activities at Oak Park High School last week.

Through classroom presentations, assemblies and evening parent programs, the school encouraged discussion about such topics as the Darfur genocide, gay and lesbian equality, and the internment of Japanese people in the United States during World War II. Among the activities were films, disability simulations, a student march, an art contest and musical performances.

Organized by the school's advanced peer counselors—high school students who have been trained to help fellow students— under the guidance of adviser/ guidance counselor Tess Wilkoff, this was the third Acceptance Week program held at Oak Park.

"It's really improved every year, getting more kids involved and thinking about the message and how they can hopefully make a difference," said Ben Pyle, a senior and one of about 38 advanced peer counselors in grades 10 through 12.

The idea for an annual week of acceptance-related events came about after hate incidents took place on campus several years ago.

"I think we would all agree there's no shortage in this world of intolerance, labeling, discrimination and hatred," Wilkoff said. "We need to bring more responsibility and acceptance into this world by how we treat each other."

Vice Principal Jerry Block and guidance counselor Debi Fries credited Wilkoff with establishing the program. Fries wished television talk show host Oprah Winfrey would promote the program.

"Wouldn't it be great if every school across the country could do this?" Fries said. "It's so enlightening and educational."

Entertainment included performances of original music by Heidi Van Den Berg and Morae Jordaine, and a piano piece, played by freshman Vivian Rotenstein, of music written by Jewish Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff, who died in a Nazi death camp during World War II.

The art/writing contest attracted many applicants. Firstplace winners were Hilary Ribons for poetry, May Roded for art and Mark Strong for writing. All submitted work was on display in the gym foyer, dubbed "the hall of acceptance."

An art installation, created by sophomore Kelsey Guttchen, of about 40 flags attached to bamboo poles, surrounded a large oak tree and an Acceptance Week 2008 banner in front of the school. Some flags carried words such as "equality," "gender" and "peace"; others had different colors and patterns to symbolize diversity, Wilkoff said.

"Don't Label Me" T-shirts were distributed to students and faculty.

"I hope everyone can be who they are on campus without judgment," said Rachel Schall, who co-chaired the week with fellow peer counselor Arielle Gillman.

Rick Eaton, a Museum of Tolerance researcher on terrorism and extremist/hate groups, presented "In Our Time," a film created by the Los Angeles museum that chronicles current genocide.

"These things are going on in our world today," Eaton said. "I challenge kids—how do these events occur, how are they allowed to occur and what can you do about them?"

He commended Oak Park High School with promoting acceptance.

"The level of commitment this school has to this program is very exciting to see. You should be proud," said Eaton during the evening parent assembly.

Comic Alex Valdez discussed how he dealt with becoming blind at the age of 7 and the emotionally difficult years that followed. Blindness has not been the biggest obstacle for Valdez.

"In school I discovered a powerful tool to help me in life—laughter," Valdez said. "Attitude is a battle you and I share in one way or another every day of our lives."

Remember that disability is "more than what meets the eye," Valdez said.

"Everybody in this world has one kind of disability or another, some obvious, some not," Valdez said. "On the inside we are all really very much the same."

Rather than see people's disabilities, Valdez urged students to see their abilities.

"Then we will be able to open our hearts and minds to accepting who we are and who we dream to be," Valdez said. "If we can do that then we will truly understand acceptance."

The final event of the week was a march, held on Friday during lunch, in which students paraded through campus carrying signs and chanting messages of peace and acceptance. Junior Brian Reilly and senior Ben Pyle carried a banner that read "Make Peace, Not Genocide."

"There are easy ways for people to be more accepting at school and make things better for themselves and their peers," Reilly said.

"This program is very educational for the kids," said Holocaust survivor Lou Schotland, who attended the Valdez and Eaton presentation. "We have to pass these lessons on to the new generation. We won't be here forever."