By all reports, OC Human Relations 2015 edition of Walk In My Shoes was an outstanding success! Over 550 students, teachers and guests from across Orange County attended the November 13 event at Cal State Fullerton. For 27 years, Walk in My Shoes has encouraged youth to explore issues of identity and culture, develop their leadership skills and expose them to examples of successful youth activism. The goal of the conference is to empower and mobilize students to work towards positive social change.
The day began with a keynote speech from award winning recording artist, educator, conceptual artist, justice advocate, and author Isa Lyfe. Lyfe’s focus is to galvanize both discourse and student action towards creating safe and thriving environments for personal and communal growth.
Following the opening plenary, students had the opportunity to choose three workshops to attend from the fifteen offered. Workshops included topics such as bullying prevention, LGBTQ issues, domestic violence, identity, disability rights and mental health.
After lunch Christina delivered her 2015 YouthSpeak award winning speech to the students and Ballet Folklórico de CSUF performed, celebrating the diversity and beauty of Mexico`s folk dances.
The event was emceed by Naomi Franco of Newport Harbor High and Tommy Lee from Servite High School. Major funding was provided by Kia Motors America.
The next Walk In My Shoes takes place Mar 4, 2016, at UC Irvine and is exclusively for Orange County Middle Schools. For more information email Don Han at don@splash.ochumanrelations.org or phone him at 714-480-6576.
Photos courtesy of www.janandtey.com
