This school year marked a new chapter at Marist as students launch the school’s first Amnesty International club. Through advocacy, education and direct action, Amnesty International gives students a chance to make a difference.
Amnesty International is also a global organization and movement. At Marist, the club was started by juniors Mia Narciso and Ethan Froylan with the goal of protecting human rights on a scale that spans from locally at Marist to the whole world.
“We saw an opportunity in our community to promote human rights in a way that Marist hasn’t really seen before. We really had a great place to work towards education and promoting human rights within Marist and the greater Chicago community,” says Narciso.
The club provides students with opportunities to learn about human rights issues, take action, and make a difference both on and off campus. Through petitions, letter-writing campaigns, and awareness events, the club hopes to encourage students to stand up against injustice and advocate for those in need.
“It is all about community. It’s really about involving the students here at Marist and involving them to contribute into a greater cause,” says Froylan.
During the week of March 3-7, Amnesty had it’s yearly national week of student action. This is where students in chapters throughout the country take action on the same cause.
“National Week of Student Action involves choosing a topic and raising awareness and education to create change for that specific topic in their community,” says Narciso
Last year, the cause was to fight for the freedom of Leonard Peltier, a Native American activist who was wrongly imprisoned. Thanks to the help of Amnesty International and others’ support, Peltier was released earlier this year.
This year, the national week of student action is focused on the mass deportations that have happened so far during President Trump’s current term. For their action, Marist Amnesty decided to write letters to people in power.
“We decided that we would write letters to a bunch of U.S. government officials including the ICE director, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and a couple other people from the administration. We want to hopefully get our message out and say we want you to protect the human rights of all people,” says Froylan
Joining Amnesty International at Marist means becoming part of a movement dedicated to justice and equality. The club welcomes all students who are ready to make an impact.
“No matter what walk of life you’re from, no matter what you believe in, Amnesty offers unique perspectives. I think our biggest strength is that we can find different perspectives within the diversity that Marist has. Amnesty truly focuses on the protection of each human right for everyone,” says Narciso.
