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Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry has passed away after a brief battle with cancer.

Students Participate In Youth Symposium For Peace Through Equity And Justice

John Perlich/Mayor’s office

Canterbury Student Diversity Coordinators and Tom Henry’s Youth Engagement Council hosted a Youth Symposium For Peace Through Equity And Justice. 

Over 100 high school students from 15 different high schools participated in the event. The symposium was created to give students the opportunity to discuss critical topics related to equity and justice for all students. 

The goal was to create dialogue among students from different high schools in order to find ways to bring peace to the community. 

Heather Case is the Director of College Counseling at Canterbury School, and she hopes this becomes an annual event.

“I hope students engage in conversations. If they can understand the struggles that someone else is facing they will have more empathy. The goal is, even if they don’t leave agreeing, that they find ways to listen and hear and share their stories in meaningful ways that can bring change moving forward within our community,” said Case.

The Mayor’s Youth Engagement Council took the lead in organizing the symposium. At the event, students discussed race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status and identity.

As students took part in breakout sessions and activities, 16 local educators and public officials facilitated. Their role was to encourage students to engage in dialogue with each other and share their stories.

Victor Pacheco, a Canterbury junior and president of the mayor’s Youth Engagement Council, said there was good participation from the students and discussions centered around current events.

“The activities and question definitely encouraged discussion, even through agreement and disagreement, the students and the facilitators were able to get something out of it,” said Pacheco. “I hope to increase the size of the summit and hopefully go bigger and further than the year before. This event can change Fort Wayne and I would love it if other cities in Indiana and in other states, follow this as an example and encourage these discussions with the youth of their cities.”

In a press release, Mayor Henry expressed the importance of the event.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for young people to grow and learn while discussing important topics designed to bring our community together,” Henry said. “I appreciate the efforts being led by my youth engagement council and Canterbury School. It’s vital that we listen to and value our future leaders.”

Credit John Perlich/Mayor’s office