Christina Ellis

Christina Ellis is a 17 year old African-Caribbean American activist. She served as the Vice-President of the Panther Anti-Racist Union during the 2021-2022 school year. Christina, fellow officers, and others worked together to reverse a book ban that her school district placed upon books and resources that promoted diversity and inclusion. She helped to organize a peaceful protest that advocated the reversal of the ban. Christina and others, currently work to continue to educate others on the importance of diversity, education, and inclusion within her community. She hopes that by sharing her personal journey, she can help to spark hope in the lives of countless people around the nation and beyond.

Edha Gupta

Edha Gupta is a 17-year old activist who served as the president of the Panther Anti-Racist Union during the 2021-2022 school year. Edha and fellow officers successfully protested a school board decision to ban over 300+ books on diversity education throughout the Central York School District. Through activism and advocacy, Edha worked with her peers to promote diversity and inclusion in their school and community. By sharing the power of her story as an Indian-American, Edha hopes to inspire young activists to make a difference through impactful change, resulting in memorable and long-lasting change in education and throughout the country.
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Olivia Pituch

Olivia Pituch is a 17-year old activist and member of the LGBTQ+ community. She served as Secretary and Social Media Advisor on the executive board of the Panther Anti-Racist Union, a student-run club at Central York High School. Along with her fellow officers, Olivia organized multiple protests that led to the reversal of a book ban instituted by the district school board, which removed more than 300+ books on diversity. With the need for activism, Olivia found her voice and hopes to spread this message across the country, uplifting and empowering the voices of the youth to effect positive change. She plans to continue the fight for diversity and representation by majoring in the field of Political Science.​

Renee Ellis

Being an 16-year old, African-Caribbean American student activist, Renee Ellis was immersed into activism after her school district, Central York School District, enforced a racially motivated book ban. She became the Director of Communications and Outreach for the Panther Anti-Racist Union, also known as PARU. Organizing and engaging in a series of peaceful protests at her high school and in the community, she helped reverse the ban. Renee currently works with PARU to continue to promote diversity, education, communication, and inclusion. As an artist, dreamer, and optimist for the future, Renee hopes to empower student activists to speak out for what is right in the world by sharing their stories about the power of love and representation.

Ben Hodge is the founder and faculty advisor of the Panther Anti-Racist Union. A 20-year veteran of the classroom, he teaches Acting classes at Central York High School and serves as the Artistic Director for the Central York Performing Arts program. Ben is passionate about the acting profession and enjoys training and mentoring young actors, teaching them to take control of their everyday lives through theatre. A staunch advocate of the Diversity programming in the Central York School District since 2006, he has focused primarily on diversity education, mediation, and social-emotional awareness. After the murder of George Floyd, he wanted to create a safe space where students could come together and have meaningful discussions around social justice initiatives outside of their regular classes. This is how the Panther Anti-Racist Union was born.

Patricia A. Jackson is a 29-year veteran in education. She spent the first half of her career as an administrator and teacher in the School District of the City of York. The latter half has been teaching World Literature and Creative Writing at Central York High School. A fierce LGBTQIA+ advocate, Ms. Jackson facilitates The Beautiful People, a student-run club that creates safe spaces for teens within the school community. When the school board voted to ban hundreds of books based on race and sexual orientation, she joined the Panther Anti-Racist Union as co-advisor to assist the successful fight to overturn that ruling. Ms. Jackson is also a published author. Her fantasy novel Forging a Nightmare debuted in November, 2021 from Angry Robot Books, UK.