What do 45 schools, over 120 students, educators, administrators, family members, Anti-Defamation League volunteers, ADL board members and a prominent Civil Rights attorney have in common? All of them were not only in attendance on April 12, 2016 at ADL’s fifth annual No Place for Hate® Celebration Breakfast, but they also expressed their commitment, shared their expertise and celebrated their year-long efforts to create No Place for Hate school cultures.

Schools from as far away as Breckenridge and Greeley, Colorado traveled to Aurora to be celebrated and recognized for their hard work. Forty-five schools completed the No Place for Hate Initiative in the 2015-2016 school year, reaching over 50,000 students. Twelve Colorado School districts were represented this year and Douglas County and Summit Counties were ADL’s newest partner school districts.  Aurora Public Schools (APS) Superintendent, Rico Munn, welcomed the attendees and ADL was proud to acknowledge that APS continues to have the most schools, nine, represented in the region’s No Place for Hate Initiative.

Excellence was prevalent throughout our celebration. Student art contest winners, ages 6-14, from ADL’s Imagine A World Without Hate Art Contest, received their awards and were recognized for their unique and creative work, all of which will be printed in the 2017 Positive Impact! Calendar. Check out the winning artwork: 2015-2016 Student Art Contest Winners. Over 100 art pieces were submitted and ten judges from ADL’s Education Committee struggled to narrow down the winners. This year’s student winners attend Palmer Elementary (Denver), Madison Elementary (Greeley/ Evans), Ann K. Heiman Elementary (Greeley/ Evans) and Franklin Middle School (Greeley/ Evans).

Many schools appreciate the No Place for Hate Initiative because it provides a framework and allows each school to be creative, utilize ADL resources, and fit existing and new programs to meet No Place for Hate requirements. Therefore, each No Place for Hate® designated school looks or feels different from another.  At the Celebration Breakfast, ADL also gave out its No Place for Hate Excellence Award to an elementary, middle and high school that stood out with a specific activity or activities that significantly impacted their school that was unique and went above and beyond common No Place for Hate efforts. The recipients of the 2016 No Place for Hate® Excellence Awards were Emerald Elementary, Aspen Creek PK-8 and Grandview High School.  You can read more about each school’s accomplishments at Education Awards.

Prominent civil rights attorney Qusair Mohamedbhai delivered a stirring keynote address.  He provided a call to action for all to recognize Islamaphobia and take action with education and support for students and families struggling to be seen and heard, especially in an increasing divisive political climate.

The celebration ended with excitement as free books were given away for school libraries and 20 schools made their commitments to bring No Place for Hate back to their schools for the 2016-2017 school year! We are ready to start a ninth year of the No Place for Hate Initiative. Registration is open and we look forward to partnering with our veteran and new schools. Go to www.adl.org/noplaceforhatedenver to register today!