ADL’s 2008 Beau and Abe Merfish Youth Summits Help Students Stand Up Against Bullying

Date: November 18, 2008

Hundreds of students and educators learned how to recognize bullying and stand up against it at ADL's 2008 Beau and Abe Merfish No Place for Hate® Youth Summits in November. 

The summits, designed to provide the tools for students to stop bullying on their campuses and help make their schools No Place for Hate®, involved schools from the Houston, Fort Bend and Spring Branch Independent School Districts.

Students began each summit watching a musical commissioned by Houston Grand Opera, I am Called "Me," performed by students from the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.  The musical, written by former HGO staff member Omari Tau, is about a group of high school students who want to be in the "in" crowd, until they discover they’re expected to bully and put others down.  They decide being in the "in" crowd is not as important as being true to their values.

After the musical, students went to breakout sessions where they further explored issues of identity, name-calling and bullying, and after lunch, they worked on action plans designed to bring the message of the Summit back to their schools and make their campuses No Place for Hate®.

Dozens of schools from all three districts participated in the summits.