AUBURN – Six Edward Little High School students will travel to Tennessee this summer to talk about their experience with racism and harassment.
The teenagers and their assistant principal will spend two days at a troubled southern school district talking about the problems their school handled this year.
They are part of a team put together by Stephen Wessler, director of the University of Southern Maine’s Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence.
Wessler said he wanted people from Auburn because of the “dramatic turnaround” he’s seen there.
“It’s really showcasing what happened in Edward Little and allowing students to present what happened,” he said.
In February, three black students were accused of beating a white student in the hall. Two of the black students, who were expelled, said the white student repeatedly harassed them. Others said racial tensions were rising in the 1,100-student school, which was nearly all white until Somalis began moving to Lewiston-Auburn in 2001.
Officials said the racial issues weren’t bad and that they were working to solve the problems that did exist. Wessler, who was already working with the school system, added extra student workshops.
This spring, a small, diverse group of high-schoolers spoke with Auburn teachers about the situations they had to deal with, from strange looks on the street to harassment in school.
“It was very powerful,” said Leslie Morrill, the assistant principal. “It certainly opened the eyes of our faculty.”
This month, Wessler tapped some of those young speakers to go with his team to Tennessee. The predominantly white, southern school district has serious problems with racism and the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence has been hired to work with faculty.
The Edward Little team includes Morrill and students Shakurah Hairston, Fartuna Ennaw, Tiffany Scruggs, Katie Alexander, Matt Anctil and Kevin Bui.
Wessler dubbed the Auburn students – a mix of boys, girls, Somalis, Maine natives, young teens and a recent graduate – “ambassadors from Maine.”
They are expected to leave for Tennessee in early August.
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