GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo. — The annual Cherry Creek Diversity Conference was held Saturday afternoon.

Every year, teenagers from high schools all across Colorado make their way to the Denver metro area to learn and listen before returning to their schools to make them a better place.

“The point of the conference is to bring people together from all over the state [so] that we can spread stories and cultures and backgrounds,” said Zoe Siegel, one of the conference’s chairs.

The idea is to expose students to different upbringings and values.

The groups broke out into classroom sessions and shared their experiences.

“All races can be discriminated against, it’s not just certain people,” said one teen participating in the conference. 

“If they learn in high school that it’s OK to judge people based on superficial things, then they’re going to take that into the rest of their lives and they’re going to teach that to their children and their children’s children.” Siegel said. “We’re trying to start a message that says: ‘You need to spend the rest of your life celebrating and appreciating diversity.'”

The goal is to have open conversations, learn something and then apply it later.

“Bringing people together to discuss difficult topics surrounding diversity and then taking what these students have learned back to their communities,” said Teah Selkin, another program chair.