Haley Peterson of West Seattle High School, and Sui Loane, of Chief Sealth, were among the 23 high school juniors and seniors recognized for conduct and humanitarianism May 6 during the Seattle chapter of the American Jewish Committee’s 2010 Student Human Relations Program. Peterson, Loane, and 18 others were 2010 Block Award recipients. Three additional students won the Deborah Rosen Scholarship Award at the event, held at the dramatic Sodo Park by Herban Feast facility, 3200 1st Avenue South.

Counselors from 50 Seattle area public and private high schools each selected one student for the Block Awards, and the American Jewish Committee, or “AJC” then narrowed the selection to 20.

Keynote speaker at the event was Victor Villasenor, a motivational speaker and author of bestseller, “Rain of Gold,” soon to be adapted for an HBO mini-series, about his family’s escape during the Mexican Revolution to the United States.

Prior to the beginning of the formal program, Villasenor gathered the students in a large corner area of the cavernous loft space with chairs and shouted to them in a caring pitch, “Say it loud. ‘I am wonderful! I am a miracle-maker! I am a genius! I can make a difference. I can kick ass.’

“If you don’t get educated, society kicks your ass,” he said frankly. “On the other hand, if you get educated you can kick society’s ass. I still have trouble reading. I had 265 rejections before I sold my first book. Realize that he brainwashing starts before we learn how to read. They give us rotten stories when we are children, like ‘Rockabye Baby!’ They say we fall. That just scares the kid. The nuns told me, ‘Look out for original sin!’ I said, ‘Where?’ I was just a little kid. Everything in society is to make us fear, to disempower us, make us second-class citizens.”

He said that men should stop fearing women, and that men have to get re-educated in a different way.

“I am Samoan, born in American Samoa and raised by my grandmother in Western Samoa,” said Sealth senior Sui Loane. “I help other people before I help myself. I volunteer, help teachers and mentor freshman. I live in South Park. I have a younger brother, Moni, going to Chief Sealth next year. My sister, Liai, 23, lives in Western Samoa. I miss her. My aunt, uncle, and cousin, who goes to Sealth, are here with me. I’m so blessed to have them here. “

“She’s got a very good attitude,” said her uncle, Pulesa Masaniai. “Even at home, my niece is very helpful to my wife. We are very happy to have her with us. We are so proud. Her parents would be proud of her. They are in American Samoa. That’s OK. We take care of her and let her do things in her own way.”

“We are so blessed to have her and my nephew. God makes a way that brought us over here,” said Sui’s aunt, Sua Masaniai.

“I ‘m on the executive board of the National Honor Society of our school and I went on two mission trips, one to New Orleans and one to Mexico,” said WSHS junior Haley Peterson who lives by Alki. Her proud mother, LeAnn, was her guest at the awards event. The mission trips were through Hope Lutheran Church where she attended middle school.

“In New Orleans we went to help rebuild because of Katrina,” said Peterson, who likes math and chemistry. “I painted homes, and scraped floors, and we went to a day camp for underprivileged kids. After four years there is still so much damage there. There are still markings on the doors, like a spray-painted ‘X’ with a number of how many bodies they found. I felt thankful for my life.

“In Ensenada, Mexico they were really poor,” she continued. “We built bunk beds because a lot of kids sleep on the floor there. “

“You look at the recipients of tonight’s awards, the young students going on in their pursuit of education to support diversity in our world, and AJC is very important in that process,” said guest and West Seattle resident, Robert Williams of UnionBank, an event sponsor. “We’ve been involved with AJC for many years.”