Wells 7th Graders Attend Leadership Conference

On Thursday, November 20th, 2025, seven 7th graders attended a Leadership Conference sponsored by the Human Rights and Education Center. This was the ninth annual conference that Wells Middle School students attended. It was held at Congregation Emanu-El of Westchester in Rye. There are 30 middle schools from the region that participate. Wells students worked collaboratively with other 7th graders from different districts in two workshops entitled, How to Be an Upstander and Respecting the Rights of All Individuals. Students worked diligently in small break out sessions addressing how to incorporate human dignity and human rights while learning to be upstanders. 

Students were also treated to an outstanding presentation by Sheila Arnold, a storyteller who captured the essence of Bess, an enslaved woman owned by Mr. Southall, owner of the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg, who shared events of the colony in 1774 including the dissolution of the House of Burgesses, the beginning talks of revolution and the events of the Boston Tea Party.

Wells students will begin meeting to strategize and plan a lesson on the topics they learned about and teach it to all 6th graders in January, around Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

The students and teacher advisers who attended the conference were 7th grade social studies teachers, Marisa Gargano and Bridget Potusek, Cameron Cluzet, Jillian Kennedy, Faith Roberts, Dylan Whitman, Thiago Davila, Gabriella Cozart, and Victoria Smith.