50p
Writing For Rights 1
Every year at Brentwood, Amnesty International’s annual Write for Rights campaign is put on by the English department to make students aware of some controversial issues going on around the world. This year's event had ten different cases for students to choose from depending on which one they find is most important.
English teacher Mrs Hedquist brought the event to Brentwood because “I wanted our students to think about human rights, to gain perspective beyond what's happening at Brentwood, and to learn about activism. I want them to read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to think about what these articles mean, and to do research about the cases so they can decide for themselves if a specific case is something they support. I want our students to do more service, and Write for Rights is one small way that, I hope, opens some eyes every year.”
All of the cases for this year's campaign include people who were arrested for an outrageous reason. This makes them perfect candidates for Brentwood students to write about why they deserve to be freed. I will be writing a letter about teenager Mikita Zalatarouin of Belarus who was beaten, electrocuted, and jailed after being accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail towards two officers even though video evidence proves he never did.
Mr Collis, Head of English, has been instrumental along with Mrs. Hedquist in keeping this event going every year and he likes “Write for Rights at holiday time because it's a gift of perspective. At this time of year, we sometimes exaggerate how hard we work and how much we need a break from Brentwood. It's easy to forget that we are awash in things such as clean water, freedom of expression, and the right to be human. Write for Rights reminds me about what stress really is, and how I have none.”
It is really cool to see how Brentwood cares about something like the Write For Rights campaign and I am honored to be able to submit a letter that could help make someone’s life better in more ways than one.
Lucas K, Whittall 22
English teacher Mrs Hedquist brought the event to Brentwood because “I wanted our students to think about human rights, to gain perspective beyond what's happening at Brentwood, and to learn about activism. I want them to read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to think about what these articles mean, and to do research about the cases so they can decide for themselves if a specific case is something they support. I want our students to do more service, and Write for Rights is one small way that, I hope, opens some eyes every year.”
All of the cases for this year's campaign include people who were arrested for an outrageous reason. This makes them perfect candidates for Brentwood students to write about why they deserve to be freed. I will be writing a letter about teenager Mikita Zalatarouin of Belarus who was beaten, electrocuted, and jailed after being accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail towards two officers even though video evidence proves he never did.
Mr Collis, Head of English, has been instrumental along with Mrs. Hedquist in keeping this event going every year and he likes “Write for Rights at holiday time because it's a gift of perspective. At this time of year, we sometimes exaggerate how hard we work and how much we need a break from Brentwood. It's easy to forget that we are awash in things such as clean water, freedom of expression, and the right to be human. Write for Rights reminds me about what stress really is, and how I have none.”
It is really cool to see how Brentwood cares about something like the Write For Rights campaign and I am honored to be able to submit a letter that could help make someone’s life better in more ways than one.
Lucas K, Whittall 22