An Oil City man hopes that an essay contest he launched this year at Venango Catholic High School will make students more aware of the continuing effects racism has on communities in the U.S.
Jeff Polley’s efforts resulted in the awarding of $500 scholarships to VC Class of 2016 members Daniel Baumcratz and Destinee Sheffer for their essays.
The scholarship money came from funds Polley has raised through his SEE Group, which he formed back in 2001 to honor one of his best friends, Scott Eckert, who died in October 2000. The SEE initials stood for Serving Educational Endeavors.
Money from the SEE fund was first awarded to elementary school students in the early 2000s when they were asked to write essays that focused on the Golden Rule of treating others how you would want to be treated.
The essay contests went dormant for a few years until Polley revived the effort this winter with his idea to ask VC seniors to pen essays in conjunction with Black History Month.
Polley met with the VC seniors over lunch on two occasions in February and showed them a series of videos he felt were vital in raising awareness about racism. The Rev. Shane Mathew, the VC headmaster, sat in with Polley and the students.
Among the clips Polley showed were Martin Luther King Jr. speaking out on love and non-violence as opposed to police brutality King said African Americans suffered, the deaths of Eric Garner, Laquan McDonald and Tamir Rice, and the Rodney King beating. He concluded with a video detailing why it is important the Black Lives Matter movement exists.
Polley’s prompt for the essay was “Does racism still exist in America, and if so, why are God’s greatest commandments not being followed?”
The prompt was based on the theme that in the history of the United States, the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness have often been denied to certain groups of Americans.
The biblical reference was to “The Greatest Commandment” from Matthew that includes the reference to “You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself” as the second commandment.
Polley worked on the essay project with Mathew and VC faculty member Cindy Eckert, who headed a faculty committee that judged the essays.
Baumcratz’s essay was titled “The Fish Rots from the Head.” Among the feelings Baumcratz conveyed was a thought that said “Passed down like an obscene family tradition, racism curls through family trees and friendships like an ugly vine refusing to be killed; snaking through the foundation and mortar of anyone’s hearts and minds that are not made of solid, steadfast respect for others.”
He concluded by saying “the truth of the matter is that racism still exists today; God’s greatest commandment is being ignored or forgotten. But there will come a day where we shall reap the seeds of equality we now plant in our youth, and stand up as one, loving each other as the family God created us to be.”
Sheffer’s theme was “Facing Our Greatest Threat – Racism is Alive.” She said “I believe that men are not following God’s greatest commandments because we as human beings are afraid to see the bigger picture. I believe that the fear of each gender, each race and each man being seen as equal to all causes controversy deep in the souls of those who still partake in racial behaviors and actions.”
Sheffer finished by saying “I believe that racism does still exist in America today, and all around our world for that matter. We may have made improvements but we as a country and as a world surely have a long way to go.”
Polley said he was pleased that the leaders at Venango Catholic were open to a “cultural diversity mechanism coming in” to the school.
“I wanted to challenge the students to really think about their views on racism,” said Polley, who told the students they will certainly be exposed to much more diversity as they move on from VC and Venango County.
He said in an interview this week that the recent shooting deaths of African-Americans by police in Minnesota and Louisiana followed by the killings of five police officers in Dallas by an African-American only served to magnify his passion on the issue and reiterate the racial divide he strongly feels exists in the U.S.
Polley, who works as an education and prevention counselor at Abraxas Youth and Family Service in Marienville, said he also sees first-hand the misconceptions about race in this region in his daily interactions.
He used as an example the fact many people think African-Americans have come a long way because Barack Obama is the president and Steph Curry is the NBA MVP.
Polley also felt the revival of the essay contest and the establishment of the SEE scholarship at VC was a good opportunity to reflect again on his friend Scott Eckert, who was a 1982 VC graduate and was active in the Oil City community.
The SEE group has also been active sponsoring youth basketball events throughout the year as well as mission trips through Venango Youth for Christ.
Polley has talked to Cindy Eckert and VC headmaster Mathew about ways to expand the essay effort next year.
“We’d like to see how we can make this part of the educational process in the general sense,” Mathew said.
Polley also said he would like to take the contest into public schools.
