Maple Heights City Schools' teacher Anetra Howard is being awarded as one of the two Stop the Hate Teachers of the Year from the Maltz Museum. Howard teaches 6th-grade science at Milkovich Middle School.
In addition, Mary Matisak, a social-emotional learning teacher at Milkovich Middle School, and her class are finalists for Song of the Year in the Stop the Hate Youth Sing Out songwriting contest. They were selected out of thousands of submissions across Northeast Ohio.
The Maltz Museum is in its 15th year of recognizing the Top Ten Class Finalists for the Stop the Hate Youth Sing Out Awards, and the Stop the Hate Teachers of the Year.
This year, 3,000 Northeast Ohio students participated in the Stop the Hate contest by writing individual essays or group songs and submitting entries for their chance to win prizes for themselves and their schools.
Through the generosity of Milton and Tamar Maltz, the Maltz Museum Stop the Hate Youth Speak Out and Youth Sing Out contest annually awards a grand total of $100,000 to Northeast Ohio middle and high school students, teachers, and schools, who are standing up to bias and discrimination through individual essays and group songs.
The winners will be named on Wednesday, April 19, at 7 p.m. online via Zoom in a virtual ceremony.
The event is free and open to the public. The Maple Heights community will be able to show support by watching the live reveal of the contest winners and see the Stop the Hate Teachers of the Year interview by registering online at www.maltzmuseum.org/STH23.