Education
Civil Rights in Action Award

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Civil Rights in Action Award Winners
Civil Rights in Action Overview
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Civil Rights in Action Award Winners

Pablo – 2005
During the 2004 Colorado legislative session, Rep. Ted Harvey introduced a measure opposing Rep. Val Vigil’s bill granting in-state tuition to undocumented students in Colorado. Pablo, a student at West High School in Denver, took the time to attend the hearing and to testify against the bill, describing the plight of many students who, due to no fault of their own, find themselves in difficult situations. Pablo is “an amazing young man with a sense of social justice, who testified because of his sense of injustice and outrage for students whose voices were not being heard, and who were trapped by their immigration status.” |

Sara Thomas - 2004
After hearing ongoing derogatory and snide comments from her peers in reference to gays and lesbians, Sara Thomas of Palmer High School in Colorado Springs made plans to start up a Gay/Straight Alliance Club. In the process, she met with stiff resistance the administration and was “struck by the fact that well-meaning teachers, supportive teachers feel they work in an environment where they will be punished for support of popular ideas.” Sara said even her best friend stopped talking to her. What Sara came to realize is that “you are at risk when you support unpopular peace and justice issues.”

Nick Salter - 2003
Nick Salter, then a senior at Cherry Creek High School, won the 2003 ACLU award for his activism. His teacher described him as "an outstanding human being. His passionate commitment to global justice sets him apart from any student whom I have ever worked with in my teaching career." Nick worked with Amnesty International, coordinating his school's student group and organizing a statewide student conference. His activities have included protesting in Washington, D.C. and forming a local nonviolent student protest group, "Students Taking Opposition Peacefully." As his teacher reported, Nick's "unique understanding of civil ways to protest led the group to one of the most regal and compelling demonstrations that I have ever witnessed."

Nick has continued his activism at Boston College where he recently started his junior year. In 2005 Nick worked hard to get a change to BC’s anti-discrimination policy to include sexual orientation. He was able to persuade 200 + faculty members to sign an ad endorsing the change. The student referendum adopted the change by 84%. Good work, Nick!

Max Holleran – 2002
As a sophomore, Max fought to protect student’s privacy rights by passionately opposing a Boulder High School plan to install surveillance cameras. Believing the cameras created a negative and uncomfortable school environment and were ineffective at preventing crime, Max gathered information for the Boulder ACLU Chapter, published an article in the alternative school newspaper, made a presentation to the Boulder School Board. He also spoke to many local officials, and made several appearances on KGNU radio to talk about school security and students’ rights.


Trailblazer

The Trailblazer Award is awarded to the student chapter leader who has most significantly “blazed a trail” in the student’s school community by advocating causes related to civil liberties, organizing the school’s chapter, and promoting the awareness and exercising of rights identified in the Bill of Rights among the student’s peers. This award started in 2004 because of the tremendous efforts by Zach Lane to start an ACLU group at his school.

2005 - Hannah Picasso-Hobin, Denver School of Arts

2004 - Zach Lane, Cherry Creek High School