Students tell stories elders need to hear

The video of last night’s Stop the Hate program at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage should be mandatory viewing for members of Ohio’s General Assembly, the State Board of Education, and all the candidates seeking the Republican nomination to succeed retiring US Senator Rob Portman.

The vast majority of elected officials and candidates in the foregoing categories condemn what they mischaracterize as Critical Race Theory on the most hypocritical of pretenses.

But the twenty middle and high school students who were celebrated last night at the Museum’s flagship program shared powerful personal stories of experiencing bigotry and ignorance in today’s public schools. The best part of their first person accounts — some of which occurred at Northeast Ohio’s most prestigious secondary schools — was that the students refused to be victimized. Rather, they found the courage to stand strong, organize and educate their fellow students, confronting tone-deaf counselors, timid and complicit administrators, and in at least one instance, forcing the removal of a body-shaming volleyball coach.

This year’s Stop the Hate ceremony marked the culmination of the program’s 14^th year. During that time STH has reached over 40,000 students in northeast Ohio across a dozen counties and invested over $1.4 million in student scholarships and anti-bias education grants. The program now receives thousands of essay entries every year across a variety of categories.

This year’s competition entrants were asked to reflect on the words of Cambodian-born writer, activist and Cleveland resident Loung Ung: “Courage is when you dare to be yourself, in whatever ways you want to be — to not be afraid, to just do it.”

Jacqueline Hudak

Lakewood HS 11^th grader Jacqueline Hudak was the grand prize winner, earning both a $20,000 college scholarship and a $5,000 anti-bias education grant for her high school.

Her presentation recited how she refused to countenance a male volleyball coach’s decision to exclude from the team any girl who failed to meet his arbitrary body standards of height and weight. By the time Hudak was through acting out Ung’s definition of courage — the coach was no longer in charge of the volleyball program.

Marjana Moss

First runner up Marjana Moss is a senior at Jackson HS in Massillon.  When she was 12, an incident occurred that she will never forget. As she rode the school bus one day, a group of her fellow students dropped a noose around her neck and tightened it. Terrified, humiliated, and mocked, she found no support from either her school counselor or the school’s principal, until her refusal to be silenced by the outrageous assault became a matter of public knowledge. The administration suddenly lost its ability to indulge the “good students” responsible for what was arguably criminal behavior. Moss said it took the Ohio Civil Rights Commission six years to address her complaint.

Moss won a $10,000 scholarship for her essay and earned a $2,000 award for her school.

Sanjana Katihar

Sanjana Katihar, a Strongsville HS junior, was second runner up, winning a $5,000 scholarship and $2,000 anti-bias education grant for her school. She has become an advocate for normalizing commonsense education about female menstruation that removes stigma and ignorance about periods.

Dahlia Fisher and Darrell McNair

The virtual program was co-hosted by Maltz Museum trustee Darrell McNair, who chairs the Stop the Hate Committee, and Dahlia Fisher, the museum’s director of external relations.

The well-paced program also saw presentations from seven other finalists, each of whom won $1,000 honorable mention prizes for themselves and $500 awards for their schools. They are:

Moira Ackerman, senior, Hudson HS

Raychelle Davis, senior, Hudson HS

Lizzy Huang, junior, Shaker Hts. HS

Tiba Jraik, senior, Rhodes College and Career Academy

Samah Khan, junior, Beachwood HS

Jenan Qaraqish, senior, Hudson HS

Mykenna Roy, senior, Mayfield HS

Some of the finalists will be interviewed on The Sound of Ideas this Monday, April 18 at 9a. The show now airs at 89.7 WKSU and 104.9 WCPN and can be streamed online.

STH programming also offered essay contests for grades six through ten. First place winners received cash prizes of $400 each, while second place winners took home $100 each.

Here are the first and second place winners, along with their schools.

Juliet Richards, 6th Grade, Hudson MS

Jocelyn Sesnowitz, 7^th Grade, Joseph & Florence Mandel Jewish Day School

Ida Chang, 8^th Grade, Beachwood MS

Michael McNally, 9^th Grade, Mayfield HS

Benjamin Ralph, 10^th Grade, Walsh Jesuit HS 

Mattia Sturman, 6th Grade, Rocky River MS

Aanchal Nassar, 7^th Grade, Hathaway Brown

Chelsea Gipson, 8^th Grade, Monticello MS

Anah Khan, 9^th Grade, Beachwood HS

Asia Howard, 10^th Grade, Twinsburg HS

Stop the Hate also sponsors a Youth Sing Out songwriting contest around themes of tolerance and diversity.  

This year’s winners:

High School

First Place: Beachwood HS, [“Speak Out”; written by Nicole Majercak’s 1st Period Class, performed by Bethany Svoboda]

Runner Up: Glenville HS [Sarah Hodge’s Civics 2.0 Class]

Middle School

First Place: Garfield MS [Lisa Blasko’s 7^th Grade class] $3500 anti-bias education grant.

Runner Up: Clark Elementary School [Mollie Lockwood’s sixth grade class] $2000 grant.

Finally, two teachers — Vickie Orozco (Newton D. Baker School of Arts) and Nicole Majercak (Beachwood HS) — were recognized as 2022 STH Educators of the Year, a honor that carries a $1000 cash prize.

The winning essays are collected here. The program, which ran about 50 minutes, can be viewed here.

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