LIGHT Initiative at Dorseyville Middle School aims to teach empathy, kindness

When Dorseyville Middle School teacher Scott Vensel traveled to Poland to study the Holocaust in 2002, an Auschwitz survivor made a lasting impression with a single comment.

“He said to our group, ‘The seed of hate is the same, no matter where it is sown.”

Since then, Vensel has made it a goal to pass that lesson on to his teenage students in the Fox Chapel Area School District.

Vensel sponsors the LIGHT Education Initiative, which started at DMS in 2019 with grants provided through the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh and the Grable Foundation.

Founded by Shaler Area teacher Nick Haberman, the club’s goal is to educate students to embrace tolerance and be upstanders in the hallways and beyond.

Programs and activities focus on social and environmental justice, kindness, volunteerism and humility.

“Hate is hate no matter how it occurs or transpires, whether that it is in the halls, on social media or otherwise,” Vensel said. “We hope to have students sow seeds of hope in school and in the community.”

At DMS, there are 23 LIGHT ambassadors in grades six through eight.

In November, students spearheaded a project which they believed would teach empathy and compassion across all grades.

They hosted a collection for Second Harvest, a Sharpsburg thrift store that benefits people by selling clothes, house wares, shoes and books at bargain prices.

Vensel said it aligned perfectly with the club’s mission, which is to coordinate student-centered projects that benefit the community.

“Planning the project was super fun,” student Fenix Goldberg said. “We reached out to people in our community to give stuff to people in need. It was fun to donate stuff to people who don’t have a lot of money to buy stuff for themselves, and, it was exciting to do something for our community and for people to stay happy.”

Fellow DMS student Ma’Leah Brooks said she is proud of her schoolmates for a project that turned out “amazing.”

“This got peoples’ attention, and they ended up giving a lot of items for the ones who are having tough times with life,” Brooks said. “The Second Harvest store is where happiness happens for people.”

Since the club was founded at DMS, more than 430 students have participated in the group’s Holocaust Remembrance Days. Many also joined in last year’s Butterfly Project, a nationwide effort to teach about the Holocaust by painting ceramic butterflies. The goal is to eventually paint 1.5 million butterflies, one for each child killed in the Holocaust.

Vensel said he’s hoping to secure space at DMS to offer more experiences for district students, as well as to host students and teachers from across the area.

“During a time of so much need, it was great to see kids and staff pull together for the donation to Second Harvest with compassion and empathy to the Fox Chapel area community,” Vensel said. “As the coordinator, I was able to inspire, prepare and empower them to realize their project and to see it to fruition.”

For more on the program, visit lightinitiative.org/