On March 15, the No Place For Hate movement was officially launched at Linganore High School. Since its launch in 1999, the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) No Place For Hate initiative has been introduced to over 1,700 schools across the nation; Linganore now included among them. 

According to the official ADL website, the goal of the program is to “build inclusive and safe schools” through positive peer influence. In simpler terms, the goal of the program is to create more inclusive school cultures where all students feel both welcome and safe. This goal is shared by Linganore No place for hate student member Kimberly Kelsie who said her hope for the program was to “create a sense of community at Linganore High School for everyone”.

A crucial step in achieving these goals at Linganore was the No Place For Hate pledge offered to students at lunch March 11-15. A signature on the pledge indicates that a student or staff member is committed to promoting respect and challenging bullying in our school. Getting a large number of students to sign the pledge is an important step in achieving a respectful and positive school culture.

According to the program’s adviser at Linganore, Patricia Kolias, the pledges were a massive success, receiving over five hundred signatures on the first day the pledge and over eight hundred by the third day.  

No place for hate is adaptable, allowing each school to address the issues that are the most pressing to their individual communities. At Linganore, the biggest issue identified in student responses was racism; this will be a major focus for the group moving forward. In the future, this issue will also be addressed in social emotional learning lessons.

Bullying is also a major topic the program hopes to address. According to Kolias, “the overall goal is to make it so that students have a safe place to come every day to learn, without worrying about being bullied or without worrying about somebody treating them unfairly.”

In order to achieve this goal, Kolias and other program leaders aim to bring awareness to the fact that bullies are in the minority at the school and this type of behavior will not be tolerated. 

In order to be officially recognized as a No Place For Hate School, Linganore will have to hold three activities throughout the year, so make sure to be on the lookout for future events.