Human Rights Club hosts Film Festival, brings awareness

Courtesy photo/Juan Diego Catholic High School

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The Human Rights Club at Juan Diego Catholic High School has planned a slate of events for the year.

DRAPER — The Juan Diego Human Rights International Club will host its annual Film Festival Nov. 11-12 at 7 p.m. in the Juan Diego Catholic High School auditorium. This year the group will highlight Native American issues with the film "Smoke Signals," and death penalty issues with the documentary "Execution of the Night."

The Juan Diego Human Rights International Club began about 10 years ago. The catalyst behind the club was Invisible Children, a children’s rights advocacy network that seeks to end the conflict in Uganda and stop Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army from abducting children and training them as soldiers.

"When the Invisible Children made the movie "Rough Cut," roadies from the group came to Juan Diego to show the movie and to speak about their work," said Nicole Veltri, Human Rights Club advisor and Juan Diego theology teacher. "That inspired the students to get involved with international human rights."

The club holds fund-raisers each year to help support Invisible Children; last year, they raised $1,200 in one day during which students paid $3 apiece not to wear their uniforms, said Emily Day, Human Rights International Club president. "The money was sent to Invisible Children to put toward their campaign to set up radio equipment to warn the civilians in Uganda when the Lord’s Resistance Army was coming."

The club also raised money and awareness by holding a day of silence, said Veltri. "The students wrote on surgical masks different phrases about people who are marginalized in society. The day of silence was to recognize those without a voice and it was incredibly successful, with more than 300 students participating."

This year the club is focusing on bringing awareness to different issues each month. October is National Domestic Abuse Awareness Month, so the students have been running different public service announcements on the school’s television broadcast system and have made flyers and posters to hang throughout the school. On Oct. 20, they will have a movie day after school to show the Lifetime film "Reviving Ophelia," about teen dating violence.

"If students in our school have been victims, they can get help from the school counselors," said Day. "Also if you know somebody who is being abused and you don’t say something, you are enabling their abuse."

In November the club will focus on Native American issues and December will be a letter-writing campaign in conjunction with Amnesty International’s letter-writing campaign on an international human rights issue. In January the club will focus on homelessness, and the following months will be issues such as hunger. A food drive is also planned.

"Students look at international issues they feel strongly about and present them to the student body," said Veltri. "They hold two meetings a month: one for information and letter writing and the other to view films, videos or documentaries or to hear a speaker brought in by the community. The speakers usually come from the Inclusion Center at Westminster College, also a student-driven human rights club.

"At least one third of the students involved in the Inclusion Center are former students of either Juan Diego or Judge Memorial Catholic High School," said Veltri, a 1991 Judge Memorial graduate. "The college students mentor the high school students."

In turn, the high school students mentor junior high students, which is how Day became involved in the Juan Diego Human Rights club. "I became a member as a freshman after seeing presentations at Saint John the Baptist Middle School," said Day, who has served as an officer for two years. "I was inspired and fascinated by the work they did and I wanted to be a part of it. It’s nice to know we are actually helping people."