Cameron Ebel Teens Against Violence (CETAV) was founded by Gary and Laura Ebel following the death of their son.
“Our son Cameron lost his life to teen violence at the young age of 15. The loss was devastating to our family and crippling to our community. When we began looking into the causes of teenage death we learned that the United States has the most violent teen culture of all the industrialized nations. Every day twenty-two teenagers lose their life to teen violence. That is over 8,000 per year. Too many of America’s children have lost their understanding of the value of human life. We knew we had to do something to stop our pain and the pain that so many other families suffer. Our answer was to help young people learn to stop the violence through tolerance and respect. That mission of teaching tolerance and respect for human life is the heart of CETAV.”
The vehicle for CETAV’s mission are its Student Leadership Summits. These were developed in 2002 in conjunction with the Douglas County Student Assistant Office, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and the Juvenile Assessment Center. Each Summit consists of a day-long event in which student leaders from the 7-12th grades, and from diverse factions of a school, are gathered. (Research indicates that targeting the school’s leaders effectively disseminates tolerance and respect to the larger school climate.)
These young leaders spend the day in targeted discussions over diversity, tolerance and mutual respect. Topics treat some of the most personal and hardest-hitting areas of teenage life, including: racism, anti-Semitism, bigotry, sexism, scape-goating, stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination. The students are encouraged to develop personal action plans for promoting tolerance in their spheres of influence.
CETAV has held Student Leadership Summits at 19 schools in the Douglas County School District, reaching over 2,000 students. The results are clear. A 2005 DCSD Senior Survey showed that those schools that hosted a Summit enjoyed a 22% increase in tolerance and a 25% decrease in tolerance issues.
CETAV is ready to take the next step and take Student Leadershp Summits throughout not only Douglas County School and Denver Public Schools but onward to school districts all along the Front Range.
