Shoreham-Wading River High School English teacher Ed Storck and former SWR High School English teacher Alana Philcox presented to approximately 40 English teachers and administrators at the Long Island Language Arts Council’s Winter Professional Development Workshop recently held in Melville. Mr. Storck and Ms. Philcox provided the audience with an overview of the work they accomplished with the LILAC grant award which they received last school year. Their grant project proposal was intended to cultivate empathy and address the need for social harmony in a culturally diverse world with the understanding that literature plays a critical role in starting that dialogue. With the grant award, the district was able to purchase texts with authentic depictions to help students better understand what it means to be human, to be unique, and to be a part of a community that respects one another. The teachers shared some powerful student responses to the newly incorporated texts and thanked the LILAC organization for the support of their project.