High Schools Unveil Human Rights Projects
Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino issued a proclamation declaring May 19-23 as the County’s ninth annual Upstander Week, the culmination of hundreds of educators and students participating in the Human Rights Institute for High School Student Leaders.
The week honors students in 25 high schools for taking “an active role in changing the world by involving getting their local communities to host an event calling attention to a particular human rights issue,” explains Millie Jasper, executive director of the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC), which runs the Human Rights Institute.
“This special week encourages student activism and awareness by inspiring students to become “upstanders,” rather than bystanders,” explains Ms. Jasper, adding that each year Human Rights Institute promotes awareness projects in Westchester, Fairfield, Putnam, Rockland and Orange County schools covering such topics as bullying, hateful and disrespectful language, women’s rights, suicide prevention and more.
HHREC’s Human Right Institute holds an annual all-day event every March for the 25 participating high schools where student leaders learn how to get their schools and communities involved in human rights awareness. The high schools holding events during Upstander Week include:
- Sleepy Hollow High School
- Solomon Schecter High School
- Harrison High Schools
- New Canaan High School
- Pine Bush High School
- Briarcliff High School
- North Salem High School
Founded in 1990, the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center is a not-for-profit organization serving Westchester, Fairfield and Putnam counties. The mission of HHREC is to enhance the teaching and learning of the lessons of the Holocaust and the right of all people to be treated with dignity and respect. The Center helps schools fulfill the New York State mandate that the Holocaust and other human rights abuses be included in their curriculum. Since 1994, the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center has brought the lessons of the Holocaust, genocide and human rights crimes to more than 1750 teachers, and through them, to thousands of middle and high school students.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.