That’s the question that local high school and middle school students are asked each year as part of the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage Stop the Hate! Youth Speak Out! essay contest. Last year, we featured the contest and the winner, Matt Soble from Solon High School, who wrote about a socially different classmate, in our Local Students Respond to Discrimination post. This year’s winner, Andrea Bestor, focused her essay on the recent suicide of a classmate, Jay (not his real name). What is so significant about the death of this [...]

Did you know that Random Acts of Kindness Week officially kicked off on Monday? This annual event, sponsored by the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, is intended to inspire kindness with a “pay it forward” mentality. In today’s society, and especially workplace culture, kindness, it seems, has fallen by the way side. People simply believe they don’t have the time, money, or energy to extend even a small amount of kindness, but times like these are exactly when we need a friendly smile or an unsolicited compliment the most. Studies have shown [...]

Last week I finished the third and final class of Cleveland State University’s Leadership Forum on Diversity series. Since most of the information presented during the series served as refresher for me, it was the dialogue among students that provided the greatest knowledge. Like in real life, open conversation is often the best teacher. The class was filled with diverse learners: students, staff, faculty and regular folks from the community like me, interested in increasing diversity awareness and cultural competency. Yet with all of these varied personal experiences competing, we were able [...]