Submission 5/4/21

HUMANS OF RIDGEFIELD HIGH SCHOOL: How does 11th grade student, Kaylie Perhamus, live the pledge, "I will seek to gain understanding of those who are different from me." “By being an ambassador of Names Day, I was able to hear the stories of others and some of the struggles they may have faced. I was grateful for [that experience]. Hearing their problems motivated me to start the 2021 Intentional Acts of Respect [through the Unity Club]. I wanted to make meaningful change and [as] president of the Unity Club it allows me to make a difference at RHS... Hopefully others can find a way, and just look for ways to help and start initiatives. Don't be afraid to start them because they can make change.” Interview by Caroline Kelly **2021 Intentional Acts of Kindness submissions will continue to be collected throughout the month of May.

Link for 2021 Acts of Intentional Respect https://forms.gle/NxfiLFH8kPqcMCTf9

Submission 4/1/21

HUMANS OF RIDGEFIELD HIGH SCHOOL: How does Anshuman Suryawanshi, RHS 11th grade class president, live the pledge,“I will seek to gain understanding of those who are different from me?” “I have a friend who is going through tough times. I saw that he wasn’t enjoying life as much as I do or as much as someone should. One day I reached out to him and asked him if he could facetime. We had a deep talk about how he was feeling. I’ve been trying to reach out to him since and keep checking in on him. I think it’s important to empathize with him and be there for him. It was important for him to know that he wasn’t alone and that I was there for him...I hope my story will inspire others to be more sympathetic. Humans are inherently egotistical, and I think we have to consciously make an effort to be there for others and make them feel better. We need to make sure that our friends are doing okay. I just want to inspire people to do their best to make other’s days better...Until NPFH was established, we didn’t really have a central agent to incite change and make a positive change. It is time to put on our “grown up shoes” and do something so we can take responsibility and do the right thing. Everyone can be involved. Hate, unfortunately, comes in all forms, and therefore we must combat it in all fronts.” Interview by Santiago Briones Lopez

Submission 3/19/21

HUMANS OF RIDGEFIELD HIGH SCHOOL: How does Cora Fitzgerald, RHS 10th grade student, live the pledge,“I will seek to gain understanding of those who are different from me?” “I became a No Place for Hate student ambassador. I think hate is a problem in our school and in every school. It is the biggest point of contention in social environments at our age. Especially with all the turmoil in the world right now. Everyone is on edge, and we need to be kind to each other. In my Teen Voices class, we talked a lot about very deep, difficult, and sometimes controversial topics. We discussed topics that I was passionate about but other people saw things differently than me. Having such an open discussion helped me gain so much respect for the other side. At that moment I realized every person’s opinion comes from their experiences in life, and we cannot judge that. I hope people will be upstanders, outspoken, and strong because there is nothing worse than feeling like a bystander to injustice. My biggest piece of advice is to just practice kindness and understanding every day.” Interview by Hersha Chauhan

Submission 3/5/21

HUMANS OF RIDGEFIELD HIGH SCHOOL: How does Jackson Fiore, RHS 10th grade student, live the pledge,“I will seek to gain understanding of those who are different from me?” “From the beginning of January, to the Capitol riots, to the inauguration itself; being able to listen to how others viewed the current events, especially since a lot of my friends have different political beliefs, was important. [It was important] because I was able to understand people and hear what they have to say rather than just blocking their perspective and keeping a narrow mindset...I find it important to listen to the reasoning behind the arguments of those whom I may not initially agree with...I hope that other people can try and keep an open mind and absorb other people’s opinions even though you might not initially want to hear them...I joined No Place for Hate because I wanted to have a more direct role in making sure the high school community was more open and welcoming to everyone, which seemed really important to me. In addition to joining the No Place for Hate initiative, other people can get involved by joining the events and participating in the forms and emails that are sent out!” Interview by Hersha Chauhan

Submission 2/25/21

HUMANS OF RIDGEFIELD HIGH SCHOOL: How does a 12th grade student, live the pledge, "I will speak out against prejudice and discrimination." I’ve been communicating with my friends about gossiping. It used to be something that we’d do as a joke because it feels nice to be “in” on something. I realise now that I want my words to have more meaning and that we have to be mindful of how our actions affect others even if they aren’t part of the conversation. [I hope my story helps others] to be aware when talking and to stop mindlessly gossiping. The way we communicate with one another is very important and what we say can affect someone who’s not part of the conversation. We need to take other people’s feelings into consideration and pay more gentle attention to others. People who do certain things may be doing it for a certain [reason] and we need to be mindful of that. NPFH is all about an anti-bias environment and preventing gossip and being biased when you don’t actually know somebody is the first step.” Interview by Caroline Kelly, 10th grade student.

Submission 2/17/21

HUMANS OF RIDGEFIELD HIGH SCHOOL: How does a RHS 10th grade student live the pledge, "I will speak out against prejudice and discrimination. “Discussions about the [events of January 6th] were more informal like sitting with people at lunch or hearing things from friends and so on. It stood out to me because I saw that people were able to talk about the subject without signs of aggression or hostility. Everyone was just voicing their opinion. That just stood out to me because everything you see on the media and online, and even social media within our grade, have a sense of prejudice and narrow-mindedness in their posts… I thought the contrast from what I saw while talking with others represented how all of us are able to interact and express ourselves without being judged personally for that, as long as everyone is respectful...This was refreshing to see and showed me that RHS is living the pledge because people were speaking out against the prejudice/discrimination in our society, but were still respecting the individual value that each person carries... I think it's really important to have a set of principles that bonds the school together [like the NPFH pledge] it creates a sense of unity. It is able to bring our school community together to work towards many goals.” Interview by Jackson Fiore

Submission 2/1/21

HUMANS OF RIDGEFIELD HIGH SCHOOL: How does Mike Stamatis, 12th grade student, live the pledge, "I recognize that respecting individual dignity and promoting intergroup harmony are the responsibilities of all students."

“There was one kid in the class who just didn’t talk a lot, like didn’t really raise his hand to be called on much...I was placed in a breakout room with him and I just talked with him and got to know him. It was nice seeing him open up... Hopefully [my story] inspires people to reach out and take the first step. Sometimes it doesn’t have to be another person taking the first step. Sometimes it can be you reaching out, you forming the conversation, you forming the bond, and you being the friendly one. If you recognize that somebody might be going through a hard time or they seem a little shy, or they might need some help, then why not be there?..I’m in Student Government which surely is a big advocate for NPFH. I’m also in the Investment Club and the Newspaper Club. We’ve actually been writing articles about ADL and NPFH.” Interview by Caroline Kelly

Submission 1/25/21

HUMANS OF RIDGEFIELD HIGH SCHOOL: How does Lizzy Garson, 10th grade student at RHS, live the NPFH pledge: " believe that one person can make a difference—no person can be an “innocent” bystander when it comes to opposing hate." “I wanted to be a NPFH ambassador [because] I agreed with the message we are trying to send and wanted to get involved. I make sure to always speak up when I hear people saying hateful things and inform them about why what they are saying is wrong. I believe that when people talk bad about others you should tell them to stop as it is not fair to others. You should not let people spread rude things about others as that can hurt them. I hope that my beliefs will inspire others to speak out when they hear people talking bad about others or saying rude things about people. I am involved in Student Government and Unity Club both of which promote NPFH. The Unity Club meets on Thursdays at 2:15PM.” Interview by Abby Sutcliffe

Submission 1/12/21

HUMANS OF RIDGEFIELD HIGH SCHOOL: How does Eliza Morris, RHS 11th grade student, live the pledge: "I will seek to gain understanding of those who are different from me."

“I [became a part of NPFH because I] thought that it was a really good opportunity to spread kindness and spread awareness in RHS over how much of an effect judging another truly has...Especially now with politics being such a big thing, it is hard to not make things personal or make things aggressive when talking about politics. It’s hard to maneuver those conversations without offending people ,so I think that it is really good to notice when you are able to respect other people’s opinions and be able to have a discussion about it without crossing boundaries...Someone’s political views don’t completely define who they are as a person and [shouldn’t] determine whether you like them or not. [We should] look past people’s views rather than defining them by them [in some cases]..There is this organization called Compassionate Ridgefield that my mom and a few other people in Ridgefield started. I’m on the board for the student run part of Compassionate Ridgefield. People can contact me if they are interested!” Interview by Ava De Palo, RHS 12th grade student.

Submission 1/4/20

HUMANS OF RIDGEFIELD HIGH SCHOOL: How does a RHS 10th grade student live the NPFH pledge: "I will seek to gain understanding of those who are different from me." “[I joined NPFH because] I’ve had friends who’ve experienced racial stereotypes since middle school, I’ve had friends who’ve experienced sexism within the school itself, so I thought we can really make a change if we work together...One conversation that completely changed my perspective. We were sitting at lunch and [my friend] was talking about all the experiences she had. It went back to middle school, it was in her club and she mentioned how all the guys got to do all the fun stuff and the girls were put in this corner doing the busy work. Hearing that really changed my perspective because [sexism] exists in the real world, because we have all these issues like pay gap etc. I didn’t realize that it actually existed down to the school level or we have it in our environment. If people can hear that story, like I heard that story then more people could actually create change...I’m currently in student government and we bring [NPFH] up in every meeting. But I have a bunch of friends who are thinking about starting No Place for Hate sponsored activities in their own clubs. [I’m] hoping we could get stuff done and get the word out. If everyone did something, even living out the pledge.” Interview by Natalie Esikumo, RHS 12th grade.

Submission 12/21

HUMANS OF RIDGEFIELD HIGH SCHOOL: How does Caroline Kelly, grade 10, live the NPFH pledge: “I will speak out against prejudice and discrimination.” “If there is any environment that should not have hate, it is a school environment because students spend most of their time in a school. I was in my reading class called Teen Voices in a Changing Society and we had to do a project on modern day racism and how it is affecting our society. I decided to do a project where in the background of my project I had a list of all of the Black people that were killed [by police] in the first 6 months of this year. In front of it I had a cut-out of a man saying “I have a voice.” I wanted to include all of the names of the Black people killed so far this year, but I could not fit them all and it was truly heartbreaking to see such a long list of cases of racism and police brutality in such a short period of time. I hope people take this message and apply it to other situations and speak out whenever you see something wrong happening, whether it's racism or just in the lunchroom when someone is being bullied.” Interview by student, Hersha Chauhan. Source of names: CBS News - https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/black-people-killed-by-police-in-the-us-in-2020-part-2/