Promoting Tolerance

Select students from Islip High School and Islip Middle School were chosen to participate in the first Town of Islip Anti-Bias Task Force. The students from the high school’s Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) and Students Together Against Racism (STAR) and the middle school’s
Student Government attended three conferences during which they shared ideas with fellow students from around the Town and listened to a broad range of speakers, from a rabbi to a disabled man.

The students, along with their advisors, took the ideas and information gathered at the Task Force back to their schools to educate their fellow classmates on being more tolerant of other’s differences.

“People think that bias is over, but they don’t realize that sometimes what they say can hurt someone else,” said senior Emilie Bui, president of STAR. “We’re trying to make people aware of their actions by spreading the word.” Added eighth grader Sabrina Winter, “No matter what our differences on the outside, we’re all the same inside.”

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