Denver, April 29, 2015….The Mountain States Office of the Anti-Defamation League designated 46 schools from across Colorado as No Place for Hate® after the schools completed a year-long effort to create equitable, safe and respectful environments.  Schools from Denver, Aurora, Boulder, Cherry Creek, Colorado Springs, Commerce City, Fort Collins, Greeley, Littleton, Loveland and Thornton attended the designation ceremony in Aurora on April 14, 2015.

Teachers, administrators, students and ADL volunteers gathered at Aurora Public Schools Professional Learning Conference Center to celebrate achieving their goal of being designated No Place for Hate®.  ADL presented each school with a designation banner to display in a prominent place, and Governor Hickenloooper’s proclamation declaring April 14, 2015 “No Place for Hate® Day” in Colorado was given to each school.

ADL honored eight schools with five-star banners for their five years of success implementing the No Place for Hate® Initiative, representing five different school districts around the state. For the second year in a row, ADL presented distinct blue banners to nine schools that have continued No Place for Hate® for six and seven years in a row, including:

• Gateway High School (Aurora)
• Pine Creek High School (Academy 20)
• Platt Middle School & CHOICE (Boulder Valley)
• Rampart High School (Academy 20)
• Cherry Creek High School (Cherry Creek District 5)
• Durango High School (Durango 9-R)
• Miller Middle School (Durango 9-R)
• Rangeview High School (Aurora)
• Southern Hills Middle School (Boulder Valley)

The No Place for Hate® Excellence Award was presented to Rampart High School and their students for creating and implementing ongoing activities throughout the school year which built community and fostered large group and small group discussions.  Students again created powerful public service announcements which were shown to all 1600 students and that allowed No Place for Hate® student leaders and staff to “create strong and safe way to spread sensitive messages throughout the school”. These PSAs included messages about cyberbullying, language, making new friends and students asking their peers to choose inclusion and respect.

Assistant Principal Kyle Chamberlain  and two students, Naomi Nix and Sydney Cunfer accepted the award noting that they are “proud to be a part of a school community that continually works towards creating an inclusive culture.”

Beth Yohe, ADL’s National Director of Training, shared her thoughts and led an interactive session in which attendees had an opportunity to share and learn from each other.  As she stated, “School culture is set either intentionally or unintentionally. At its heart, No Place for Hate is about intentionally setting school culture that is inclusive and honors all students.

ADL also recognized young student winners of the Imagine a World Without Hate Student Art Contest.

The Mountain States Office of the Anti-Defamation League has offered the No Place for Hate® initiative to schools since 2007.  This year’s program reached over 50,000 students across Colorado.  ADL also began to register schools ready for the 2015-2016 school year.  For more information or to register your school today, visit the No Place for Hate website.

The following schools earned banners recognizing their efforts in the 2014-2015 No Place for Hate® campaign: