On Monday, June 2, students and faculty at Cherry Hill Alternative High School and Cherry Hill High School West will celebrate the schools’ designations as No Place For Hate. Both schools have completed a year of anti-bias and anti-bullying programs.
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.
A number of projects were completed this year at both schools. At the alternative high school, students participated in a service-learning project. They studied the Mt. Peace Cemetery, one of the largest historical African-American cemeteries in New Jersey. They learned about the cemetery to explore the history of racism in New Jersey, read biographies of African-American interred at the site and explored past and present struggles to upkeep the cemetery. Near the end of the year, the students created a wall mural in the building around the theme, “You can’t change how people treat you or what they say about you. All you can do is change how you react to it.”
At Cherry Hill West, students began the year with a Respect Essay Contest. The winning essays were published in the school newspaper. Students and staff also did a Paw for Purple Pride project, where they publicly recognized each other for promoting and exemplifying strong character. For the final project, students create Bystander Bumper Stickers, with slogans offering ways to be a positive influence when they see bullying.
This is the second year the Cherry Hill Alternative High School will receive this designation and the first year for Cherry Hill High School West. Joyce Kilmer Elementary School was the first in New Jersey to be designated No Place for Hate in 2006.
