During the summer of 2023, Samantha Katz visited the West Bank and Israel to study life and culture in the region as part of a program sponsored by an international youth group. Particularly meaningful for her was witnessing a dialogue between Palestinian and Israeli community leaders discussing their perspectives on growing up in a region of constant conflict. The Palestinian youth leader spoke of advocating in his community for peace and harmony with Israel. He reported that this split his community because the men had been taught to hate the Israelis. Even before October 7th, Palestinian unrest curtailed Samantha’s tour on the West Bank. On her return to the US, she resolved to study the issues further and to bring her findings to her own school, other county schools, and other communities.

She has investigated and written about the spread of media propaganda around the world and how it has heightened Islamophobia and antisemitism on many levels due to harmful content being reposted out of context. She says she witnessed this in her own school community where racism, hateful speech, loaded comments and even nazi symbols have sprung up recently. She is acutely aware that the spreading of hate does not lead to better understanding. She believes that serious discussions and education surrounding the contentious issues will help to bring more peace, understanding and inclusion at Robinson. She thinks these are the strategies necessary to bring peace anywhere and hopes to devote her energies in these directions after finishing high school.

In October, she met with her school principal, school board members, community leaders and her peers to garner support for founding a Jewish Student Union at Robinson. She has been able to share her insights about Israel and Jewish culture and her trip to the West Bank with the newly formed Robinson Jewish Student Union and at two schools in the area.

She believes much can be done to promote peace by working within small communities. She continues to participate in the student government and to help special needs students at Robinson feel included in school activities. Her objective now and after high school is to become fully educated about the background causes of conflict and to work with groups to reduce ignorance and the spread of hate. She says she is not afraid of engaging in hard conversations.