Contact:  Yamile Nazar Walker
Phone:  336-373-2038

    
    City’s Student Human Relations Commission to Hold Summit
Aims to heighten awareness and sensitivity to diversity

GREENSBORO, NC -- (January 22, 2009) – Nineteen local high schools and the more than 250 student commissioners that make up the Student Human Relations Commission will hold a summit on Tuesday, February 10, from 9 am to 5 pm to heighten their awareness and sensitivity to diversity and human relations. The summit will be held at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 1301 Alamance Church Rd.

The summit will begin with a performance of “Let Your Children Tell,” a 45-minute documentary written and directed by Brenda P. Schleunes and commissioned by the North Carolina Council on the Holocaust. The documentary, presented by the Touring Theater of North Carolina, focuses on the effects the laws and atrocities of Nazi Germany had on young people living in Austria, Hungary and the Netherlands.

Dr. Karl Schleunes, a professor at UNC-Greensboro and renowned Holocaust scholar, will then lead a discussion with the student commissioners on the methodology of the stripping of individuals’ civil rights.

The student commissioners will also participate in small group discussions regarding human relations issues they have observed and present a report on interpersonal relationships in their schools.

The Commission was formed at the beginning of the 2008-09 school year, when the Guilford County Board of Education and its senior staff partnered with the City of Greensboro’s Human Relations Department to establish a 15-member student human relations commission (SHRCs) at 19 local high schools.

The desired outcomes of the effort include: (1) mutual understanding and respect among the student body, school staff, parents and community; (2) constructive activities to serve as an alternative to activities such as gangs and separatist behaviors; (3) positive values resulting in peer problem identification and resolution specific to the schools; and (4) positive programs/activities for consideration by school administrators and the Board of Education.

The 19 high schools participating with the Greensboro Human Relations Department are: The Academy at Smith, Dudley, Eastern Guilford, Early College at Guilford, Grimsley, The Middle College at N.C. A&T, The Middle College at Bennett College for Women, Greensboro College Middle College, The Middle College at GTCC-Greensboro, The Middle College at GTCC-Jamestown, GCS Newcomers School, Northeast Guilford, Northwest Guilford, Page, Ragsdale, Smith, Southeast, Weaver Academy and Western Guilford.

The High Point Human Relations Department has six high schools participating: The Academy at Central, Andrews, Central, The Middle College GTCC-High Point, Southern Guilford and Southwest Guilford.

Student Commissioners plan to present their findings and annual report to the Greensboro Human Relations Commission during their regular meeting in June of 2009 before they break for the summer.

Media will have an opportunity for interviews and video/photos. Please contact Yamile Nazar Walker at 336-373-2038.

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The City of Greensboro works in partnership with the community to build an increased quality of life for all residents by fostering an environment where inclusion, diversity, and trust are valued.  As the seventh largest employer in Greensboro, the City has a dedicated professional staff of 2700 employees who maintain four core values of honesty, integrity, stewardship, and respect.  The City of Greensboro is governed by a council-manager form of government where a mayor and eight council members act as the legislative body.  For more information on the City of Greensboro, please visit us online at www.greensboro-nc.gov.