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Court
News Ohio
Students
Advocate for Justice in their
Communities
May 10, 2013
It’s
not every day that middle school student
activists try to solve problems such as animal abuse, bullying,
domestic
violence, homelessness, and teen pregnancy. But that was the scene May
7 at the
Riffe Center in Columbus when more than 150 Ohio students took part in
the 19th
annual Youth for Justice Summit, a program of the Ohio Center for
Law-Related
Education.
“These
students are tackling real world
problems,” said OCLRE Executive Director Lisa Eschleman. “Domestic
violence is
not an easy topic for adults to solve, yet we have a group of
eighth-graders
who developed ways to address this issue.”
Youth
for Justice is designed to empower youth
to be actively engaged citizens who work together to make a positive
difference
in their communities. Students identify a problem relevant to them,
then
develop and implement solutions.
Summit
project evaluators selected four teams,
out of 18, to receive an Outstanding Project Award:
“Fighting
Bullying,” Greensview Elementary
School (Upper Arlington)
“Relax,
Refresh, Respect,” Pleasant Street
Elementary (Mt. Vernon)
“Domestic
Violence,” St. Francis School
(Cleveland)
“Positive
Role Models,” Heritage Middle School
(East Cleveland)
This
year’s summit also marked the first time
that OCLRE aided teams in implementing their projects. The Youth for
Justice
Implementation Grant was awarded to two teams: “Botkins Bully Busters”
(Botkins
Elementary, Botkins) and “Railroaders Against Teen Pregnancy”
(Collinwood High
School, Cleveland). Botkins students will spread awareness of bullying
by
distributing “no bullying” frisbees at their school track and field
day.
Collinwood students will design team shirts to wear when they give
presentations about teen pregnancy prevention, a prevalent issue in
their
hometown.
“It’s
rewarding to empower young students and
watch as they make incredible differences in their communities,” said
Eschleman.
Youth
for Justice has a positive impact
statewide and includes teams from urban, suburban, and rural areas.
Teams
showcasing projects at the summit besides those already mentioned
included:
Heritage Middle School (East Cleveland); Leaves of Learning (Deer
Park); Ripley
Union Lewis Huntington (Aberdeen); and St. Cecilia School (Columbus).
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