Event combating hate is hosted at Acrisure Stadium
Hundreds of Allegheny County high school students teamed up at Acrisure Stadium Wednesday morning.
It wasn't about football though, it was about combating hate and antisemitism.
"I'm just excited to see what everyone's come up with," South Fayette High School senior Pranamya Rangaraju said.
South Fayette was one of 26 area schools represented on Wednesday.
"Maybe we'll get some inspiration here and we can take away some amazing things," Rangaraju said.
These students came to the Eradicate Hate Global Summit last October.
"The students have taken this back to their campuses and made it their own," Brette Steele, Eradicate Hate Global Summit president, said.
The students have implemented a lot of things since then.
"We had everyone in our school come to school dressed up in their traditional attire," Rangaraju said.
"We essentially had a culture day, so we had people of different cultures bring in their food after school," West Allegheny High School junior Brayden Presley said.
Wednesday, part of the next steps included passing along what they've done.
"They're sharing with one another all the different ways that they're finding success creating safer, kinder schools," Nick Haberman, founder of the LIGHT Education Initiative and Coordinator of Civic Engagement and Anti-Hate Education for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, said.
Some of them wrote ideas on post it notes. They cross-pollinated as adults helped to facilitate.
"What I'm hoping is the students come back to their campuses with even greater energy, motivation, and even inspiration," Steele said.
Everyone here believes "the earlier, the better" when it comes to stopping hate.
"Everything starts with the youth, the youth is our future," Presley said.
And for students like Presley? They will waste no time trying to execute some of the things they've gathered after Wednesday.
"We're looking to gather all of our ideas and put them into action this coming spring," Presley said.
