LORETTO, PA – On April 30 seven Tyrone High School students, along with Tyrone Area High School Principal Mr. Thomas Yoder and social studies teacher Mr. Cummins McNitt, attended the 5th annual “Diversity Summit” at Saint Francis University.

Students from more then a dozen central Pennsylvania schools attended the summit.  It was co-hosted by Saint Francis University and the Johnstown chapter of the NAACP.  Tyrone students have attended the summit each of its five years of existance.

The students in attendance this year were Jarred Muir, Kathleen Beck, Lauren Patterson, Joe Steinbugl, Cameron Baksheshe, Cullen Raftery, and Matthew Brenneman.

Chaz Kellem, the keynote speaker at the summit, was born with a bone disease that causes his bones to break easily. He has broken 43 bones. Despite this bone disease, Kellem lives a successful life.  He works for the Pittsburgh Pirates and has started “The Unbreakable Drive,” an organization aimed to inspire and to motivate others.

Kellen began his presentation by telling the audience that in his life he has only one rule, “absolutely no complaining.”

He explained this rule by having everyone in the room stand. He said, “This one simple motion you are doing: standing this very moment, I will never have and never will be able to do. I will never know how it feels.”  Yet Kellen leads a very active and successful life, both personally and professionally.

“My most memorable experience from the summit would have to be when Chaz said he was ‘4 foot tall, 70 pounds when wet, and sexy as ever!” said Tyrone sophomore Joe Steinbugl.

Students also participated in workshops in which they were required to meet and interact with students from other schools.  “The workshops were fun. I enjoyed meeting new people and the speaker was great.” said Raftery.

One workshop focused on racial and ethnic and racial stereotypes.  Students listened to the name of an ethnicity or group of people and wrote the first the things that were thought of about this group.  “Hearing what everyone said about these groups of people has really opened my eyes to see how biased and unkind our world is.” responded Raftery.

Next school year the students who participated in this event will be added to the Principal’s Advisory Council. This council will be used to find ways to better help improve the climate of the Tyrone Area High School.

Mr. Yoder and the council members hope to have Chaz Kellem travel to Tyrone Area School District to speak to students in the fall, funding permitted.

Principal Yoder said that he “expects this to be a great kickoff to the 2013-2014 school year.”