Baldwin-Whitehall students hold 24-hour vigil for violence victims
WHITEHALL, Pa. (KDKA) - Students in the Baldwin-Whitehall School District are participating in a 24-hour overnight vigil to spread awareness about certain types of violence.
One name at a time, students are remembering people who lost their lives to violence. Students are reading more than 8,000 names of victims of school-place and identity-based violence for 24 hours straight.
"We are reading the names of 8,339 people from North America who were murdered because of the group of which they are identified, whether that be their race, their gender, their orientation, their ability level or their religion. We're also including 500 some who were killed in school-place violence since 1929," said Daniel Shaner, a gifted support teacher for the Baldwin-Whitehall School District.
Spreading awareness about school-place and identity-based violence is important to the dozens of students who are part of the Baldwin High School's Light Education Initiative.
"I think the most important thing is to recognize that we kind of are all human, it's these things -- being disabled, a person of color, being gay or LGBTQ+ community -- it's not things you can necessarily change. It's just aspects of people trying to live their lives and be who they are, and I think everyone deserves to be able to do that," said Stephany Ochs, a senior at Baldwin High School.
The vigil started at 8 a.m. Friday and will continue until 8 a.m. Saturday. Students are taking turns reading each victim's name, age, place of death and type of violence, which can be taxing.
"Through this vigil, we are not letting the people that lost their lives because of the hatred of others, letting them be forgotten and we're honoring their memory," said freshman Sol Wiedor.
Teacher Daniel Shaner said their long list includes the 11 lives lost in the shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.
They also added the names of the six people killed at a Nashville Elementary School on Monday.
This week has been difficult for teachers and students, after the Nashville school shooting, and then there were fake reports of active shooters at multiple schools in western Pennsylvania.
Shaner said their 24-hour event teaches students that every life has value.
"I hope that one day we don't have to do this anymore. My goal would be a year where I don't have to make any new slides for our PowerPoint," Shaner said.
