Human Rights Academy

Recently I went to the Human Rights Academy, which was a one day event held at Camp Burgess in Sandwich, in which schools from across the Cape gathered to discuss their projects and events relating to human rights. Human rights issues addressed included anti-bullying, domestic violence/abuse, Haiti relief, and clean water for Africa. Projects included an anti-bullying bill, a coffeehouse, variety show, awareness campaigns, donation drives and carrying water. The projects that Sturgis presented were a Haiti relief fund, Pennies for Peace, Dating Violence/Abuse Week, and the Blood:Water Mission.

This experience was certainly unforgettable. I really enjoyed hearing what other schools presented and what they felt was an issue that had to be addressed. Although every project was significant, some were rather cliche but there were a few that were very original and drew my attention. One in particular was the project presented by the Riverview School. Their human rights issue was the lack of fresh, clean water in Africa, which was similar to my project. Their event consisted of walking from their school to the beach, filling up a large container of water and walking back to the school. This was done in order to understand how it feels to walk in the shoes of an African woman who has to walk miles to get water. I thought that the project was really powerful and forced you to really feel what it's like to suffer. This got me wondering about how it would feel to be on the other end of any human rights issue. Instead of being the one campaigning, I would be the one for which there would be campaigning. This made me realize the value of each individual human being and how we here in Cape Cod can't understand true degradation and poverty when it's so far away and seems so unreal.

The human rights issues that were addressed in the projects and events showed me what Cape Cod students deem to be the issues that need to be addressed. In turn, this got me thinking about the issues that were not addressed and that I feel are not brought to light or are not emphasized as much. As a result I ended up reaching my personal goal of being inspired to do a project here at Sturgis. The human rights issue that I thought was important was human trafficking. The trafficking of humans can extend from labor trafficking, modern day slavery to sex trafficking which encompasses prostitution, sexual slavery to child trafficking which includes child sexual exploitation and child labor. Using this issue I would like to bring forth to the school the horrors of human trafficking which is not known by many.

The Human Rights Academy also made me think about the significance of our work and the ethical implications arising from doing such work. My first thought was "is what we are doing actually working?" Raising awareness and raising money is great and important but I wonder if it actually does something that lasts beyond that day. Those who heard about the issues of human rights, will they remember that information and act on it? Or will they just go home and not think about it ever again? My second thought was the ethical implications in the field of human rights work. What are the true intentions of those who do human rights work? Do they feel like it's their responsibility as fellow human beings to help others out? Do they do it out of pity? Is it compassion? Or love? Or do they do it for the self-glory they will receive in the end and the admiration of others of how wonderful they are to be helping the less fortunate? As a result I decided to find out why I do this. My answer was that I do this to be fair, because I did not ask to be born in the circumstances in which I was born nor did I choose it. And neither did those who do not have the advantages that I do. It's not fair that they were born to whichever conditions they are in and it's not fair that I was born in the conditions I am in. So out of fairness, I help others, because it could just as easily have been me being trafficked for sex, dying of hunger and thirst, not knowing whether I will see another day or even if I want to see another day.

Despite the brevity of this activity, thus far it has been the most fulfilling and the one in which I felt truly accomplished and successful, not because I did anything particularly great but because in the process I learned so much about myself and my intentions. This knowledge I can carry with me regardless of what I do and where I am. And it made me want to try harder and work harder and do better, not necessarily for my own sake, but for those who can't and wished they could.

Cape and Islands Leadership Conference - Student Council

This week I attended the Cape and Islands Leadership Conference for Student Council with Adriana, Kate, and Connor Read. The conference itself was rather disappointing because we expected, including Mrs. Yalden, that it would focus more on leadership skills and how to better lead one's school through Student Council. However, the main message that I got from the conference was enthusiasm, school spirit, lots of energy, and lots of fun, which I think are extremely important for Student Council and for the school itself. Seeing the other schools and seeing the DY, the hosts, have so much energy and so much school spirit made me realize that Sturgis, relativately, has practically none, except during Spirit Week. Other than that week, we don't that school spirit that remains throughout the year in other schools through events like sport games. Then I thought, to what extent does Sturgis need or want school spirit? Our school is very close as it is and trying to implement that stereotypical school spirit into our school would be extremely hard. As a likely candidate for presidency next year, I think about how I could leave Sturgis a bit better than when I found it (something very hard to do, by the way) and if I could try to bring more spirit into our school, which I found very challenging during Spirit Week for the class of 2011.

Games vs. CCA, Chatham, CCT & Harwich

For the last week we've had four games, three of them in a row. These games helped me a lot as a tennis player to realize what I need to practice and how I could get better. The games against Harwich and Cape Cod Academy were certainly unwinnable since they are very good teams and we didn't expect to win from them. However Cape Cod Tech and Chatham were very winnable games that we lost 2-3 in both. In the Chatham game, I could have easily won but my partner in first doubles, Aidan, wasn't there and since we know how each other works and we have good communication, I wasn't able to carry that over with my partner for that game. In the Cape Cod Tech game, for first doubles, I thought was very difficult to win because they were the same pair we've been playing for the last two years and they are very good. But for the entire team as whole, we could have won since the lineup didn't change for either team and since we lost 2-3, it showed us that as a team we have improved because in previous years we always lost 0-5.

These games made me realize that what I need to work on is returning serves and hitting gorund strokes. During practice I tried to improve and when I played Harwich, even though we lost, I thought I improved so much because their serves were fast and difficult and I was able to hit most of them. The next day in practice, I played some singles with third singles and that helped me improve my ground strokes. I then played a challenge match against Aidan in which we tied 3-3. This was a great achievement for me since Aidan has always been better than me and the score showed that I have improved greatly and that I deserve my spot as first doubles.