Margaret Castillo
- University of Missouri
- Mountain Range High School, Thornton, CO
The Day Without Hate is a statewide initiative in Colorado created to increase inclusion and nonviolence within schools. Margaret, an active member of Student Government and the National Honor Society, headed this peace-promoting event in its first year at Mountain Range High. She helped form a committee who distributed Hershey’s kisses, created a poster honoring the victims of the Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, and Columbine tragedies, and made 2,003 white doves to hang throughout the school, which represented every student and faculty member. They challenged the student body to greet a person they had never spoken to or hug three people throughout the day. Margaret plans to train a new coordinator who will continue to cultivate the unifying experience of The Day Without Hate. She writes, “One school at a time we can change the senseless violence against others we deem different than ourselves.” Margaret is also a lifeguard and a member of the track team.