Young people take center stage at Eradicate Hate Global Summit in Pittsburgh

The Eradicate Hate Global Summit, a major world conference on reducing and eliminating the influence of hate in society, is underway in Pittsburgh.

Monday's portion focused on young people.

"We have 42 schools from six counties across southwestern Pennsylvania," Eradicate Hate President Brett Steele said.

Six hundred students gathered to focus on how to prevent hate-fueled violence and make their schools safer. This part of the four-day event is called the student summit.

"It's hard to pinpoint hate," Baldwin High School student Lily Baumgardner said.

For Baumgardner, hate at her age comes from the herd mentality, especially among the young. Take part in the hate or be hated yourself.

As Baumgardner puts it, hating is easy. Compassion takes courage.

"Be an advocate and be brave and call out your friends or people you might not know and just talk to them, see where they're coming from and provide perspective," Baumgardner said.

Each school represented will get $1,000 to fund student-led initiatives to combat hate in their school. Attendees also received the opportunity to network with groups focused on understanding and combating prejudice.

"I think the way to stop hate is through care and kindness," St. Joseph High School student Julian Jiggetts said.

Jiggetts believes the summit is a place to develop a skill set to discuss with his fellow students how to move past personal prejudice they may learn from their parents, peers or social media.

He says the internet can be just as effective in bringing people together as it can in dividing them.

"There are forums, there are areas, there are chat groups for people with different interests that live different lives that go through different experiences.

Penn Hills student Michael Boyle echoed that sentiment.

"Hate is going to be in your life. You just have to help others through it. If you're dealing with hate, there's someone out there for you," Boyle said.