No Place for Hate Program Makes a Resurgence

In the 2022-2023 school year, Mrs. Reilly and Mrs.Klasna have taken on the responsibility of expanding upon the No Place For Hate program, which was implemented at Aliso Niguel last year. They wish to create a student-lead community that centers around the goal of the original program. 

The program saw little success within the school last year and failed to resonate with the student body. It mostly consisted of videos watched during tutorial and students signing a “pledge” to stand up to discrimination with no further expansion upon the subject. 

Sophia Marquez (12) expresses that “students were pretty lazy, inattentive and unobservant with what the program had to offer.” 

Some administrators, such as Assistant Principal Mrs. Puncinelli, received minimal training through this program but have yet to go through it completely.

However, seeing as the initiatives taken last year were lackluster at best, this newfound club seeks to tackle the prevalent issue of prejudice through directly incorporating the opinions of students through a club.

Mrs. Reilly explains that this program “ fits right into [her] passion for teaching history to try and stamp out hate, discrimination, and racism worldwide.”

In order to combat the inadequate execution of the program last year, Mrs. Klasna and Mrs. Reilly want to create a group for students passionate about challenging the issues of racism and discrimination. They would be able to collaborate with the staff at Aliso Niguel to approach the problems the school is having and resolve them in a productive manner and serve as adult support for students’ ideas.

The program itself is run by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an organization that has been functioning for 80 years, arising from the bigotry and intolerance of events such as World War II and the Holocaust. 

They will be providing guidance and training for the advisors as well as students interested in becoming officially trained in addressing discriminatory behavior.

There will be a training held on Sept. 28 to a select number of students in order to further their understanding of situations that involve prejudicial treatment. A representative from the No Place For Hate program will be visiting the school in order to formally train the advisors as well as the students participating.

Mrs. Reilly makes a note that “of course that these are going to be incremental changes, northing is going to change dramatically overnight, or over a year even”, but it is important work nonetheless. She hopes that this association of students continues to expand throughout the years and she encourages underclassmen to become a part of the club.

The advisors are in communication with teachers and students from other schools within our school district that are further into this initiative than our school. For instance, San Clemente High School.

They have been able to share successes they’ve had with the program and also what did not work as well in order for our school not to have to replicate the failures.  However, it is important to note that there are problems specific to our school that this group will have to work around based on our unique student body. 

Nonetheless, the club wishes to motivate students to be champions of change at our school. Seeing as they are the ones who experience intolerance firsthand, it is crucial to the advisors that they have a say in this matter since it affects their daily education.