Fort Bend Independent School District NEWS RELEASE FROM COMMUNITY RELATIONS Keryn Miles, Communications Specialist keryn.miles@fortbendisd.com    281.634.1100

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Elkins Student Receives Walter Kase Pledge of Respect Scholarship

FORT BEND ISD - Elkins High School’s Diversity Team and TEAR (Teens Educated Against Racism) hosted their sixth annual Global Tapestry Diversity Conference: A Journey into Multiculturalism. The event brought together approximately 200 high school students in a series of workshops promoting diversity. The keynote speaker was Walter Kase, an 80-year-old Holocaust survivor, who after speaking of his experiences as a child in a concentration camp, encouraged students to do their best to make the world a better place, free of hatred and prejudice. After his speech, Kase joined Barbara Whitaker, principal at Elkins; and Jackie Bickerstaff, Elkins Diversity Chairperson and TEAR sponsor, in presenting the $1,000 Walter Kase Pledge of Respect Scholarship to Elkins senior, Karen Pasayan. The scholarship was created to recognize a student who has shown exceptional effort to embrace respect and diversity while focusing on ways to challenge bigotry through participation in “No Place For Hate” activities that endorse the Anti-Defamation League programs. Pictured (from left to right) are: Barbara Whitaker, Walter Kase, Karen Pasayan, and Jackie Bickerstaff.

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