Crimes are sadly a large part of our everyday lives. They can be seen on the news, in the papers, or even on the streets. Although what commonly accompanies numerous crimes is pain and heartache, there are rare occasions that arise from even the darkness of those crimes.

One Staley High School student fell victim to a hate crime; a crime that is motivated through prejudice against sexuality, race, gender, or religion. The student was a member of the English Language Learners Due to their loss, the students of the ELL department initiated what they called the Peace Walk in the student’s honor.

The Peace Walk, open to the public, was held on February 7, 2014 at Staley High School from 3:00-5:00 pm.

The walk was organized by utilizing two levels of the school; informative posters, pictures and stories of victims of hate crimes all created by students lined the walls of the hallway and hung from the ceiling. The bottom floor also held pictures, posters and stories made by students, however, they exemplified peace and kindness.

The walk was considered to be “like a museum experience,” according to the Staley High School website. Also according to the site, the goal of the walk was to “promote kindness and learn about the devastation of hate crimes.”

“Attending the Peace Walk at Staley impacted me with the raw facts of how many hate crimes are committed and how many kinds there are,” explained Justin Marshall, one man who attended the walk.

“Also, seeing some people I didn’t know that were involved in fighting against hate crimes impacted me as well,” he continued.

Marshall agreed that the power evoked from the walk was impressive, because it was completely student made.

“Even in hard times, [the students] took something sad and made it into something progressive,” he said.