If anyone has doubts about the commitment of young people to the values of peace, justice and compassion, let them consider the stories of 14 high school students who were honored by the Thomas Merton Center as "New Persons" of 2002.

The New Person Awards have been given annually since 1973 to local persons or groups working for positive change in the community, with a special emphasis on those whose efforts have gone unnoticed. This year’s awards recognized students at many different high schools who have been activists, both in their schools and in their communities, in an extraordinary variety of activities.

The awards were presented on May 11 in a program at Chatham College, in the Welker Room in the college’s music department. Music for the occasion was provided by Mike Stout and his group, "Human Union." Refreshments and general support were given by The Center for Women in Politics at Chatham and the Rachel Carson Institute of Chatham College.

The awardees were chosen on the basis of nominations by TMC members and friends, including teachers at the various schools. The awards were given in eight different categories.

The following are the awardees’ descriptions of their activities and goals.

Category: Anti-Discrimination

Talia Stol
For the past four years I have been a member of my high school's ERACISM club. This club is dedicated to eliminating stereotypes and prejudice in our community, and our goal is tolerance and diversity education through a variety of programs planned and attended by members. As president this year, I have organized programs including a guest speaker on activism, a South Hills teen interfaith dialogue after Sept. 11, a movie event where we watched "Smoke Signals" and discussed contemporary issues facing the Native American community, a music program dealing with protest songs of the 20th century and most recently a visit to the Zen-Buddhist Temple in Ambridge. In addition to ERACISM, since September I have been teaching English as a Second Language to a class of Sudanese refugees. Throughout high school, I have been involved in South Hills Interfaith Ministries in various capacities, including acting as a delegate to a teen interfaith program in Washington, D.C., and to the U.N. Millennium Interfaith Summit in New York. I have also participated in SHIM's annual Martin Luther King Jr observance for three years, and this year I was part of the Youth Subcommittee that helped plan the SHIM Holocaust observance. Last year I also founded a SHIM youth committee in order to organize a local interfaith conference which was attended by over 7o South Hills teens and hosted religious leaders representing the Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and Mormon faiths Finally, in 10th and 11th grade I was a participant in NCCJ's Teen Leadership Council which consisted of a monthly seminar on different "isms" (racism, ableism, homophobia, etc.).

Category: Student Rights

Olivia Tucci, Mari Dumbaugh, Annie Kushner, Julia McDowell and Laura Romah
Last year, a lengthy contract dispute between the teachers and the school board erupted in our school district of Mt. Lebanon. During this time, the inaccessibility of teachers and the unwillingness of the school board to compromise hurt students’ scholastic opportunities and grades. Disappointed with the lack of student influence in our school district, we felt it necessary for students to organize to protect our rights. Thus, Mari Dumbaugh, Annie Kushner, Julia McDowell, Laura Romah, and I (Olivia Tucci) decided to create an organization through which the voices of students on various issues could be heard, called the Student Union. Through the Student Union, we have encouraged many students to speak up at school board meetings concerning topics such as the contract dispute, a "controversial" assembly presented by Dr. Patch Adams, and foreign exchange trips. We have also held "Registration Days," during which tables are set up in the cafeterias with voting registration cards and information to promote students of age to register. Perhaps our most significant contribution, however, is the Student/School Board Committee which we organized and on which we currently serve. This committee consists of 15 juniors and seniors who meet with the School Board several times a year to discuss issues concerning the students and the school. This much-needed group acts as a liaison between the students and the school board.

Category: Equity

Rebecca Kottler-Wein
My true passion has been my volunteer work with the children’s program at the Women’s Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh. During biweekly (and oftentimes more) visits, I have had the privilege to get to know the children living at the Shelter. Often called the “art therapy girl,” I come heavily armed with art supplies and ideas for art projects. Currently, I’m working on a 4x13 foot mural there titled “In the Garden of Tomorrow” with the kids, with multimedia flowers, butterflies, and reflections of their hopes, wishes, and dreams for the future. I collated their artwork into a research project studying the impact of domestic violence on children and presented my findings at my school to promote public awareness of the effects of domestic violence on children, utilizing the childrens’ drawings as projective tools. I view education as the only way to break the cycle of violence against women and address the underlying socioeconomic, gender, and cultural issues that perpetuate violence.

Volunteering at the American Civil Liberties has had a significant impact on the way I view politics. I have learned that authority does not always signify what’s constitutionally right, and our civil liberties need to be protected now more than ever. I volunteer at the ACLU three days a week as administrative support. I have also participated in canvassing, and defending the rights of Pittsburgh teen artists during a hearing for the “Mook Bill”; providing testimony at a televised City Council meeting, speaking out against a bill that would have prohibited minors from buying and carrying art supplies without a legal guardian present. Currently, this bill has been tabled.

Through an organization called Building New Hope, I participate in a fair trade coffee project, roasting and bagging Nicaraguan shade grown coffee. The proceeds assist Nicaraguan farmers in marketing their crops and setting up more effective irrigation systems. I have also lent administrative support with a similar organization, Global Connections and their publication, the Pittsburgh Area International Resource Directory (PAIRD). These two organizations have led me to become interested in global affairs. This upcoming summer I am planning to go to Ghana for 5 weeks (on a merit scholarship from the American Field Service) to work in an orphanage there. I have also volunteered with other projects including: presidential campaign (canvassing and telephone solicitations for Al Gore), making Christmas boxes for underprivileged children in third world countries, serving dinner to the homeless on Christmas and other days, participating in Interact Club activities (a high school division of the Rotary Club), and attending youth conferences (ex: Youth Summit) that promote youth voice and cultural respect.

Ben Phelps-Rohrs
Over the past two years, I have participated in many activist events. I attended the Solidarity summer school, a weeklong intensive on communism and organizing local activist groups this summer. I put the knowledge I gained to good use in the past year by helping to organize an anti-racist action hip-hop show and becoming co-president of my school’s Amnesty International club (we are currently trying to convince the cafeteria to stop selling environmentally irresponsible coffee picked by workers living below the poverty line). Last year, I chartered a social justice club, “Culture Shock”, that worked with the East End Cooperative Ministries to bring together people from two radically different walks of life – the white upper-class kids of Winchester Thurston and the racially diverse, impoverished people that used EECM’s services. I also organized for the local and national elections in 2000, working with Green Party candidates Ralph Nader and Curt Larson.

Category: Gender Orientation

Strauss
I started as an activist in elementary school, going to the principal to complain about the lack of women and people of color in our history textbooks. In middle school I created data charts comparing the number of times boys were called on and their proportion of the class to the same for girls. I fought a sexist and heterosexist event at my middle school called Hush Day, a day during which girl's voices were silenced. Yet it took me until high school to fight for my own rights to be heard and respected.

I fought for all of 10th grade to start a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) at my school, or at least to have the school do something to address the harassment I was receiving as someone who broke perceived gender norms. Eventually, my friend Jason and I were permitted to start Gender Issues, the first high-school GSA in Western Pennsylvania. Since then, I've met consistently with the Head of School to determine ways to make our school a safer and more respectful place for all students, presented to the entire Shady Side Academy (SSA) Senior School faculty on lgbt issues, led Gender Workshops both at Shady Side and around the country, and organized multiple school-wide events to draw attention to lgbt and feminist issues. I serve as the youngest member of the Board of Directors of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) Pittsburgh chapter, where I co-chair the Youth Empowerment Committee and lead the Pittsburgh Community GSA. The Community GSA is a youth-run organization that networks area GSAs, provides support to students and faculty without GSAs at their schools, and helps students and faculty to start their own GSAs. I also work with the national GLSEN organization, serving as the co-chair for their National Student Leadership Team, working to make GLSEN more youth-inclusive.

Category: Peace

Morgan Corr
I am relatively new to the activist world, but I have endeavored to be as alert a citizen as possible for most of my life. I am active in my school community with such programs as the Diversity Council, which is made up of students from ranging backgrounds and the Diversity Alliance, which is a network in my high school (North Hills High School) of all the different "diversity" groups including Nonconformists, Gay-Straight Student Alliance, the Diversity Council, etc. Through these two related groups I was given the opportunity to speak in the STOP Violence Conference which was a gathering of different high school students on different topic ranging from discrimination and dating violence to bomb threats and drugs & alcohol. The Diversity Alliance also has received a grant from the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) to promote the awareness of students and faculty at our school on issues such as sexuality, race sensitivity, religious difference, etc.

I am a member of the Teen Leadership Council (TLC), which is part of the NCCJ. The TLC convenes representatives from many local high schools once a month to participate in workshops on different issues. They bring in experts on the topic of the month to assist in the training and activities of the workshop and it is always an interesting and educational experience.

I also recently participated in a youth activist training program sponsored by the Alliance for Progressive Action to teach youth's how to best get their campaigns off the ground.

Finally, I am in the early stages of planning a peace rally to be held in the Pittsburgh area which will be youth oriented. I am working with different community members on this project, including some Thomas Merton Center staff.

Category: Environment

Claire Schoyer
Well, I guess it started with stuffing flyers for my mother when she
was with the Peace Institute, but that maybe to thorough. I am CO-President of my high school's (CAPA) Sierra club, Amnesty International, and ACLU. With the Sierra Club I have been working with The National Forest Restoration and Protection Act and with the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. I have been working on letter writing campaigns and have lobbied for both in Washington, with a group I organized from my school. We attended The Sierra student Coalition's (SCC) annual Public lands Action Summit and have I been trying to keep them involved. I have applied for Pennsylvania State Coordi nator for the SCC. I have been trying to get my chapter up to Allegheny National forest and have been involved with the Allegheny Defense Project, which is a group trying to save Pennsylvania's only national forest. I have also been organizing an action against the staples cooperation. With Amnesty, I have been tabling and organizing letter writing campaigns. I helped organize an all school assembly to inform the whole student body about the organization. I have been working a lot lately with the just earth campaign, which ties human rights to environmental rights. Also, my first lobbying trip was for The Human Rights Information Act and Amnesty really is where I began my involvement. With the ACLU I have not done much, but write letters and help start the chapter. I am going to a conference soon and hope to get involved and really start more action. Also my Long term Project (school thing) is to educate some St. Bede School children and to help them organize an event at their school. Also just things like phone calls and bake sales and litter pickups (attempting) and volunteering people to cook at the East End Corporative Ministry. I think little things are good. I am trying to start a Students for a free Tibet and hope to help my mother more with Peacelinks. I try to Educate. I hope that was not too much or too little it is just the important stuff.

Category: Hunger and Homelessness

Rebecca Meiksin
Because my mother is extremely involved in politics and activism, I grew up thinking that it was completely normal to attend gay rights and anti-war marches in Washington, DC every few years. So I naturally became involved in activism during high school. In 9th grade I joined the Student Hunger Action Coalition at Taylor Allderdice High School and went on my first lobbying trip to DC. We lobbied for the increased funding for the WIC program. In 11th grade, we lobbied for debt forgiveness for developing countries and for increased access to food stamps for immigrants. Also in 11th grade I asked two of my friends to start a Gay/Straight alliance with me at Taylor Allderdice. We coordinated the involvement in the National Day of Silence Project. Also, this last year, I learned of the Pittsburgh Public School Board’s proposed exclusive contract with the Pepsi company. As I believe that contract would have sold out the students and sent mixed messages about the purpose of public schools, I spoke against this contract at a school board meeting.

Anand Krishnaswamy
My personal experience with social activism has been mainly through Just Harvest and my school’s Interact Club. Through Interact, I have rejuvenated the “homeless tours” a program that only my school participates in. I have been involved with Amnesty International’s “Write a thon” and “Stop the Torture” campaigns. I’ve also been involved with Red Cross and Brother’s Brother. Probably the biggest influence on my activism has been my leadership role through Just Harvest’s Student Hunger Action. I’ve attended numerous lobbying trips to DC, and have taken a leadership role by addressing those PA Representatives that have a hard line policy dealing with social issues such as welfare reform, TANF, African debt relief and food stamps.

Category: Community Service – CCHRIST members

Daniel Dzombak
I am a student at Central Catholic High School and a member of Central Catholic Human Rights Initiative for Societal Transformation (CCHRIST). We are part of Amnesty International, in which we cooperate with them in petition drives and urgent actions. Urgent actions are human rights emergencies that are very urgent. For these, we write letters to whomever it pertains to, usually government officials. Also, for CCHRIST I am one of the anchors on a weekly update program on Central’s TV morning announcements. I am on about once every 2 months. I am also a member of Amnesty’s FAST network, which is if there is a life-threatening human rights emergency I am sent an e-mail. I put my name on it and send it to the proper authorities.

Severin Russo
I am also a member of CCHRIST. I also attended the United Nations Conference on human rights in Philadelphia. We discussed how we could help the fight for human rights. Aside from that, I write letters to leaders of foreign countries to get individuals that are unfairly imprisoned out of prison.