The inspiring work in South Allegheny can help families address social justice issues during the holidays and beyond

Photos courtesy of South Allegheny School District.

In the fall of 2022, a group of students from South Allegheny High School got the chance to attend the Eradicate Hate Global Summit in downtown Pittsburgh. They spent a day listening to inspirational speakers and watching a powerful documentary about the Tree of Life synagogue shooting.

Perhaps most impactful of all, they met with students from many other schools in the Pittsburgh area and even some from Ohio. Together, these teenagers discussed their concerns about the world and considered how they could create a kinder, more just culture in America.

The teens returned to South Allegheny inspired and hungry to form their own Eradicate Hate group. They wanted to learn more about civics and its impact on the world. What might they learn from the pursuit of social justice in American history? How might they work to create a kinder and more equitable culture at their school and beyond?

When they began this work, these students had a particularly valuable ingredient: adults willing to support them in their work to help improve a world they will one day inherit.

Since that first visit to the Eradicate Hate Global Summit, South Allegheny students have continued their social justice work and participated in many events, including the Transforming Tomorrow Student Summit and the South Fayette School District Uncommon Conference.

As 2024 draws to a close and we enter the season of reflection and giving, Kidsburgh spoke with South Allegheny Workforce Development Coordinator Laura Thomson and teacher Ellen Eyth. Both work with South Allegheny’s Eradicate Hate group, and Eyth is a winner of the Shyne Teacher of the Year award.

Although students advance their own social justice work, we know that adults can play a valuable role. So Kidsburgh asked Eyth and Thomson how parents and other caregivers can help all children in the Pittsburgh region understand and embrace their role as future civic leaders.

HOW CAN ADULTS SUPPORT CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS?

“I think the same way about supporting students in workforce development,” Thomson says. “IIt’s all about experience and exposure — all the time, all day — and build relationships.”

At South Allegheny, that takes many forms. In addition to attending regional events, students hear speakers who have been involved in the history of social justice in our country.

“We had a speaker who came to us from Classrooms Without Borders,” Thomson says. “He lives in Israel and came here last year to speak to Eradicate Hate students firsthand about his experiences. And we traveled around the state to meet people who marched with Martin Luther King and John Lewis as teenagers.”

These experiences are educational and impactful for students, she says.

“And just like with student staff development, you never know when it will resonate and when the learning will emerge,” Thomson explains. “Maybe I’ll take kids to the carpenters’ union or the ironworkers’ union. And maybe it’s not until they’re 26 that they’re ready to go back to that experience. It’s still part of their schema, their experience, and when they’re ready to go back to it, they’ve got it. I recently said to one of my students, “If you’re ready to be a congresswoman, you have these experiences.”

Parents may not be able to provide these types of experiences. But it’s easy to stream many different documentaries and interviews with historical figures online. Select a few to watch with your children and discuss what you have learned. You can also attend lectures in the Pittsburgh area.

Then think about what experiences your family might have firsthand.

“I like exploring our collective history with students, and I like taking students to the places where history happened, with the people who were there when it happened,” Thomson says. “So that’s what we do. We travel a lot.”

With this in mind, parents can plan trips for their own families.

Just one of many possible destinations: Atlanta is home to both King Center for Nonviolent Social Change (And directly opposite, Ebenezer Baptist Church where MLK preached), and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights (expanding this spring and summer but scheduled to reopen in the fall).

Adults can also help students raise funds for their school groups to travel to historic sites in the Pittsburgh region and beyond so they can experience these places firsthand and hear the voices of those who lived this history.

The South Allegheny students also visited the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, as well as the African American History and Heritage Museum and the Holocaust Museum, both in Washington, DC

They also visited the “Tree of Life” synagogue on site. “There are two words in life: experience, exposure. That’s it,” says Thomson. “And you hope that that starts early and that they always have that to fall back on.”

Another effort: Students designed and made T-shirts that read “Love (heart) Your Neighbor.”

“They actually make the shirts themselves,” says Eyth, “so there is a certain level of ownership in it. And they’ll see each other wearing them and working on them. So it’s almost contagious.”

This points to another great strategy for families around the holidays and year-round: “I would say parents and grandparents get to know their neighbors. And not just the geographical neighbors, but other people too,” says Eyth.

“Take kids to these community events. Get to know people. Be an example of getting to know people and talking to people you don’t necessarily know.”