A Lewiston High School student has received a national award for fighting racism in his school.
LEWISTON – When white supremacists came to town, Ben Mendelson got to work.
The teenager made sure every Lewiston High School student had a chance to talk about what was going on in the city. He made sure they had their questions answered.
“The big thing was we had an opportunity to educate students about diversity and tolerance,” he said.
Now Mendelson, a 17-year-old high school senior, is being honored for that mini-battle against racism. He is the winner of a 2004 Spirit of Community Award from Prudential Financial.
Independent judges chose Mendelson as one of two Maine students to receive a $1,000 scholarship, an engraved silver medallion and a trip to Washington, D.C.
More than 20,000 middle and high school students from across the country applied for an award. One hundred and four were chosen.
The high school athlete and honors student acknowledged that the discussions he led seemed to help his school, but he was surprised they were worth honoring.
“I filled out the application and didn’t even think about it. I didn’t think I’d win,” he said.
‘Pivotal’
Mendelson was a 16-year-old junior when his city was split by racial tensions.
Then-mayor Larry Raymond had written an open letter to the Somali community asking it not to move any more immigrants into Lewiston. The World Church of the Creator, a white supremacist group, planned a January rally in the city. A new tolerance group popped up to oppose it all.
At the 1,250-student Lewiston High School, Mendelson watched as tensions between Somali and native students rose. Many of his classmates said they were curious about the racist rally and wanted to attend.
Knowing the group’s penchant for violence, Mendelson grew worried.
“I wanted to try to keep students from harm’s way,” he said.
With help from his classmates and the school principal, Mendelson worked for two weeks on a plan: He and a small band of students would speak to every teenager in the school, answer their questions honestly and talk about the situation.
Mendelson missed a week and a half of classes during final exam season, dropping his grades to Bs and a C while he worked on his plan. But over two days, he and 20 of his classmates were able to meet with English class after English class, reaching every student in the school.
Teacher Joan Macri, the adviser for the high school’s civil rights team, called Mendelson’s actions “amazing.”
“He saw that somebody had to say something,” she said. “Ben saw that there was a wrong that was going to happen, wrongs were happening, and he had to do something about it.”
Last fall, the high school principal urged Mendelson to apply for the Prudential award. On Friday, he was pulled out of his third period government class to hear the news: He won.
Sarah Cayia, an eighth-grader at Reeds Brook Middle School in Hampden, won the second award for collecting school supplies for Bosnian children.
Both are now in the running for a national award and a $5,000 scholarship.
Mendelson said he knows his school has transformed into a more peaceful, accepting place, but he doesn’t believe his project was responsible. It was, he said, a team effort.
Others say Mendelson was the leader of the team.
“It was pivotal,” said Jim Larouche, a retired Lewiston guidance counselor who worked with Mendelson last year. “Once that day passed, it was like night and day. The school truly came together.”
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