LEWISTON – Selected high school students from Lewiston, Auburn and Portland gathered at Bates College over the weekend to learn about overcoming bias and to brainstorm ways to involve their communities in the process.

“We’ve spent the weekend getting trained in a bunch of different things, like effectively dealing with discrimination, racial profiling, hate crimes and prejudice,” said Michael Scruggs of Auburn, a senior at Edward Little High School.

Scruggs was one of 23 students between the ages of 15 and 18 selected for the leadership development conference based on involvement with the Unity Project. The project is a collaboration between the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence and school districts designed to teach students how to deal with potential conflicts and address bias and harassment.

“It’s helpful, dealing with situations in school and learning how to cope,” Scruggs said. He has been involved with the Unity Project since he was a freshman and has been able to use the techniques he has learned over the years to speak with other students about discrimination and racial slurs.

Nicole Manganelli, assistant director of the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence, which is based in Portland, said the weekend conference was the first time Unity students from different high schools had been brought together.

“It’s been amazing to see them draw strength from each other and form friendships from outside their communities,” she said.

She said the goal was for students to use the skills they’ve learned to develop projects that will make the communities they live in safer.

“They are organized into a project team for each school with the purpose of bringing their learning into the community,” she said.

The students said they were looking forward to reaching out beyond their schools.

“I’m very excited about Lewiston and Auburn collaborating to do a community diversity peace walk,” said Alex Crockett, a junior at Lewiston High School. “It’s important to let people know there is diversity and that they can be different and be safe.”

Allison Lafreniere of Lewiston, a sophomore at Lewiston High School, agreed.

“There’s a bunch of different groups of people, even at Lewiston High School,” she said. “Coming (to the conference) makes you think about it and then you realize everyone has a story. I met a lot of different people here I probably never would have talked to otherwise.”

Manganelli said each group of students would work with mentors from their respective communities throughout the school year to implement their ideas.