Pittsburgh-area students tackle social justice topics
Events began after Antwon Rose II’s death
Miley Madison, 16, and Ricardo Scott, 15, sat in the middle of a group of nearly 30 students Friday afternoon, recreating a scenario in which the two were pulled over by police.
Place your hands on the steering wheel, Miley, a Belle Vernon student, said while listing off ways she and Ricardo, of Steel Valley, could stay safe during the interaction. A dark blue folder held in both her hands replicated the action. Open the window. Ask the officer before reaching into the glovebox or other parts of the car to retrieve their license and registration. Others chimed in, suggesting they instead keep the items in their sun visor.
The scenario was part of a session on police relations where students from schools across the region discussed interactions they’ve had with officers. The students were provided with tips on how to interact with police and Leon Ford, founder of The Hear Foundation who survived five gunshot wounds from a Pittsburgh police officer during a traffic stop in 2012, showed students the importance of building relationships with officers.
The discussion, where students opened up about being racially profiled and instances of excessive force, was one of several that took place on the Penn State Greater Allegheny campus throughout the day as part of the Woodland Hills Student Summit.
“The whole point of this is to show we can build relationships instead of just being scared,” Nakiah Cloud, an 18-year-old student leader at the police relations session told the group.
The Woodland Hills Student Summit, now in its fifth year, brings together teens from across the region to discuss social justice topics and other issues. This year’s event drew 17 school districts from Allegheny, Beaver, Butler and Cambria counties, and allowed students to lead discussions about eight major themes with the help of local experts.
“I’m just truly thrilled and [it’s] amazing in the fact that we are able to touch even more lives,” Woodland Hills English teacher Erin Wall, who organizes the event, said. “We have had some wonderful additions this year.”
The summit first started in 2020, a response by Woodland Hills students who were grappling with the death of Antwon Rose II, a 17-yearold student at the district who was shot and killed by East Pittsburgh police Officer Michael Rosfeld following a 2018 felony traffic stop on Grandview Avenue in East Pittsburgh.
Antwon’s death sent ripples through the small community, leaving many students feeling angry and confused over the shooting and the ultimate verdict that found Rosfeld not guilty.
In the year that followed the verdict, students — with the help of Ms. Wall and Calvin Murphy from the Pittsburgh-based Center for
Victims, which provides resources for victims of any crime — chose to create the summit to invoke positive change.
The first year of the Student Summit, known by the district’s students as 12 Deep for the 12 communities that make up Woodland Hills, students converged in classrooms throughout the high school where they tackled heavy topics and focused on police relations, a direct response to Antwon’s death, as well as racism and mental health.
After the first year, the event started to grow. While the summit was virtual in 2021 because of the COVID- 19 pandemic, students from districts throughout the region were asked to participate. Sessions that year were hosted by Woodland Hills students who touched on racial injustice, student grief and loss, economic hardships, self-care in a pandemic, misrepresentation in the media and cultural discrepancies.
By 2022, students from multiple districts met in-person for the first time. Scattered throughout Woodland Hills High School, participants had an open discussion about issues facing the LGBTQ+ community, such as the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill, now a law in Florida, that bans teachers from discussing gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade. The bill has now been expanded to include all grades.
Today, the summit — a one-day event held in the spring where students choose which topics they want to discuss and then facilitate the conversations — includes students from Aliquippa, Belle Vernon, Carlynton, Greater Johnstown, Mt. Lebanon, Penn Hills, Seneca Valley, South Fayette, South Side Area, Steel Valley, Pittsburgh Public, West Mifflin and Woodland Hills.
And this year topics picked by students continued to expand. Students led sessions on ideas such as racial and social equity, police relations, mental health, creating positive change in schools, gun violence, humanitarian services — including disability awareness — LGBTQ+ issues and animal and environmental considerations.
“It was really giving students the opportunity to come from urban, suburban and rural districts
that never really get to interact other than through competition rather than through collaboration,” Ms. Wall said of the event. “We want to give them a space to talk about social emotional issues that often don’t fit into the curriculum.”
Sunrise Miyares, a 2022 Woodland Hills graduate who came back to the summit to participate in an alumni panel, said the growth she saw this year “was overwhelming.”
“For us, it was a high school student that really made this come apart,” Ms. Miyares said. “Just targeting our youth is really important cause we’re all going to grow up and be in these positions of power and we need to make sure we’re advocating for ourselves so we can change these times.”
Noa Diggs, also a 2022 Woodland Hills graduate, agreed, adding the the summit counters the narrative of “staying in a child’s place. I feel like that’s been really harmful so I’m glad we’re all coming together to really speak about issues that affect us personally or that we feel very passionate about on a larger level.”
That idea was reflected in Mt. Lebanon students Sophie Chumburidze, 17, and Cecelia Morrow, 16, who were leading sessions on climate change.
“It’s our future,” Sophie said. “It’s the one planet we have and we’re killing it. I feel like in less than 50 years we’re not going to be able to reverse this so I feel like kids really need to start getting more involved. There needs to be more availability of sessions like these that kids can learn more about it and get involved.”
For Alonzo Wade, an 18-year-old Belle Vernon student, this year’s summit was the second time he attended the event. Last year, Mr. Wade participated in racial and social justice sessions.
This year, he’s involved in sessions on gun violence.
“Just talk about things that aren’t talked about every day,” Mr. Wade said of what he learned from the sessions. “They should be. A lot more should be said than what is.”
Ms. Wall, who organizes the event, is now hopeful it will grow to state and national levels.
“I want to get this opportunity,” Ms. Wall said, to work with “as many students as I can.”