Dartmouth High Students Visit Capitol to Lobby for Human Rights
DARTMOUTH HIGH
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington News Service
03/26/09
WASHINGTON—Twelve Dartmouth High School students woke up at the crack of dawn Wednesday to catch a flight to Washington for a whirlwind one-day trip to Capitol Hill. Their mission was to petition government officials to take action in the Darfur-Sudan human rights crisis.
The students, members of the Amnesty International club at Dartmouth High School, were invited by Rep. James McGovern, D-3, to attend a human rights hearing sponsored by the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.
“We want to learn about our government and get the word out there that student groups care about international issues like Darfur,” said Phil Krause, a senior and the club’s vice president.
Students visited the Amnesty International offices in Washington and the office of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., where they met with Dylan Gottfried, Kerry’s aide on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“Today’s trip was really cool,” sophomore Chloe Gilligan said. “This trip was different. We talked to the Amnesty International people about how they became involved in human aid work. John Kerry’s office aide was well informed. He knew what he was talking about.”
Rep. McGovern, the co-chair of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, invited the students to sit in on the hearing, which concerned the dangers facing journalists and human rights advocates in Colombia.
“We admire that you are here. It’s an inspiration,” McGovern said in acknowledging the students during the hearing. “I’m glad they are going to get a chance to learn more about the issues in Colombia.”
“It was completely shocking and moving. I had no idea those things were happening in Colombia,” junior Chloe Bernert said.
Bernert, like the other students, is interested in international relations and said she hopes to return to Washington as a college student at Georgetown University.
“Darfur has been one of my main focuses for a very long time,” Bernert said. “The younger you learn about issues the better; if you know what’s going on you will be more willing to try to enact change.”
Amnesty International, which campaigns for human rights, has 2.2 million members worldwide. The club at Dartmouth High School was formed in 2003, shortly after the start of the war with Iraq.
“Students were upset, and they wanted to get involved,” said Ben Kahrl, social studies department chairman and adviser to the club. “I told them they could start an Amnesty International club.”
The club has blossomed from 8 members to about 60, Kahrl said. Each school year students pick two international human rights issues to focus on. This year they are working to raise awareness of the Darfur-Sudan crisis and discrimination against women.
During the school year they meet twice a month to write petition letters and organize events designed to educate the student body about human rights issues, the students said.
Club members each year make two trips to Washington to lobby the government on the issues they are working on.
“It’s important to teach kids how to exercise their rights to petition. Almost in no other country in the world do people have as much access to people in power,” Kahrl said. “It’s important for them to sense that they have a voice, a powerful voice. Just the fact that we can come down here and see the federal government is extraordinary.”
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