In two separate ceremonies today, the students and faculty from Haddonfield Middle School and Haddonfield Memorial High School will celebrate their schools’ designations as No Place for Hate, having completed a year of anti-bias and anti-bullying programs.
Lisa Friedlander from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) will attend the schools’ designation ceremonies and present each school with its official designation banner.
To earn this distinction, each school formed a No Place for Hate® committee, adopted a resolution pledging to create a more inclusive school, and implemented a number of projects promoting respect for differences for both faculty and students. Haddonfield Middle School started the year with a program called “Bringing Relational Aggression to Light”, which helped to create school-wide awareness about the issue of Relational Aggression, and how students can cope with it and prevent it. Next, they held an assembly called “Titans of Song”, which is a show set just decades ago in America that highlights the story of two African American who challenged the racism rampant in the land from the unlikely barricades of the classical concert stage.
Finally, students wrote, produced and filmed a video called “Put the Brakes on Bullying,” which explained New Jersey’s Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying rule in students’ own words; the video was shown to the entire school.
Haddonfield Memorial High School students started the year off with a presentation by actor/psychologist Dr. Michael Folwin, whose one-man-show explores issues of respect and challenges students to celebrate differences.
Next, the school participated in the New Jersey Week of Respect, where students in the No Place for Hate club, the Gay/Straight Alliance, Student Council, and Peer Leaders worked to promote respect and acceptance.
The project’s goal was to raise awareness and promote discussion about bullying, respect and acceptance. Students increased interactions with those outside of their friend circle and helped to make HMHS a more welcoming and friendly school. Finally, students worked together throughout the year to create a tile mosaic that represented the idea of what Haddonfield meant to them.
Each student and faculty member was given the opportunity to design his/her own tile to be added to the mosaic. In the end, the project brought students together in a productive and positive way to produce a work of art that symbolizes their commitment to No Place for Hate and one another as a school community.
This is the second year that Haddonfield Middle School and Haddonfield Memorial High School will receive their designation banners.
The schools are part of more than 200 schools, communities and organizations in southeastern PA/NJ/DE currently participating in the No Place for Hate® program, following former Pa. Gov. Ed Rendell’s endorsement in 2006.
Where and when:
Friday, Oct. 12 at 1 p.m.
Haddonfield Middle School
5 Lincoln Ave.
Haddonfield
Friday, Oct. 12 at 2 p.m.
Haddonfield Memorial High School
401 Kings Highway East
Haddonfield
