For the second time this year, area high school students are taking part in a Student Summit on Race. The first summit was held in the Irondequoit school district in January, when approximately 180 students from 13 local high schools met to explore race, racism and privilege in our community.
This time, students are meeting in Penfield on Friday, where senior Ranita Williams characterizes race relations at her school as "okay".
"Of course, everything is not perfect, and you do have those people sometimes who say things, and you don't to let it bother you,” Williams said. “But pretty much at Penfield, we're pretty much open. We teach people how to accept people for who they are and not judge people, not to just say anything that comes out of your mouth, because you want to be respectful of everybody’s opinion."
A representative of the Gateway 2 Change program from St. Louis, Missouri will be on hand to facilitate the conversations among local high school students at Shadow Lake. They will try to identify issues surrounding race and racism in their communities and look for solutions.
"It's fascinating to me that they see it as we're now giving them permission that it's now okay to talk about these topics, and let's talk about these topics, and engage others in the conversation," said Penfield High School principal Leslie Maloney.
Two more summits are planned for November 10, 2016 in Greece, and in March, 2017.
