PD Students Stand Up For Tolerance

students recounted the importance of tolerance Tuesday during a special end of the year assembly.

"We can all do something to help,'' 14-year-old Katherine Teasely of La Quinta told her classmates. "We can make a change easily just by doing simple things."

She asked the crowd of 400 students to take a moment to think of their lives without "your bff, your guy friend, or your dude."

"I know from experience that when everyone is off with their friends ... all you wish is that someone, anyone would talk to you,'' Teasley said.

During the one-hour assembly, students showed examples of projects and lessons learned during their humanities, math and history classes throughout the 2010-11 school year.

Students in teacher Nanette Davis' humanities class stood up and read inspirational quotes from paper chains constructed by the students.

One eighth grade girl named Amanda recited a quote from Mother Teresa: "If you judge people, you have no time to love them."

Afterward, they recited the Gettysburg Address, and some students read aloud portions of essays they wrote and submitted to the Jewish Federation Essay Contest.

Students in a geometry class recounted how their teacher had them make 1,000 origami cranes to send to earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan. According to Japanese legend, anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane.