Special to the Reporter

Mercer Island High School’s Student Group on Race Relations (SGORR) received the Student Leadership Award and Mercer Island Parent Edge received the Community Leadership Award during the May 21 Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA) area recognition event.

Mercer Island School District Superintendent Donna Colosky was president of the WASA Metro group this year and co-hosted the event, which honored students and community leaders from throughout King County.

SGORR aims to uplift minority voices and address racism, micro-aggressions, and more in their high school. SGORR connects with culture-based clubs at the high school and helps students to create committees on what they are passionate about. Members can address anything ranging from better lessons on anti-Semitism to more comprehensive curriculum on the Civil Rights movement.

“Last spring, students from SGORR inspired us when they took action in the face of injustice and led a Black Lives Matter march across Mercer Island. They modeled the way for adults and reminded us that their voice is powerful,” Colosky said. “Organizers and leaders from this event have gone on to continue pushing for and making change, joining committees, sending demands for change to adult community leaders, and helping to centralize the voices of many groups at Mercer Island High School with the same mission.”

Mercer Island Parent Edge is a team of engaged parents that has brought national speakers to the Mercer Island/Seattle/Eastside parent community on a variety of topics for many years.

With the pandemic, Parent Edge quickly pivoted to present an important Parent Support Series on Zoom in connection with Mercer Island Youth and Family Services on children’s mental health, social isolation and development, drawing hundreds of viewers for those three programs. Parent Edge also featured Dr. Deborah Heitner to share practical advice and tips to help kids succeed during remote learning and Rosetta Lee on cross-cultural communications.

They also conduct two yearly youth suicide prevention programs for parents, providing evidence-based prevention strategies to help youth in crisis stay safe and get support. Most recently, Parent Edge joined with other partners to present another online program on working toward anti-bias as a community. Learn more at miparentedge.org.