Amnesty International has reemerged at Lafayette to raise awareness of international social issues through various organized events.

Started in 2008 by a group of seniors, Amnesty International was a popular club at Lafayette until its founders graduated.

“It was interesting because there was such a high interest for a while and then that group graduated and it sort of just dwindled,” Paige Hereford, gifted educator, said.

Recently, another group of seniors has brought Amnesty International back, under the sponsorship of Hereford. The club generally meets every other Thursday to discuss various human rights issues.

“Typically, we will pick a topic in advance. It could be fair trade, it could be child soldiers. We’ll maybe watch a movie about it, discuss it and then figure out what type of action we could do to promote awareness of it,” Hereford said.

Past topics of discussion have included current events issues, the environment, fair trade products and universal education.

However, the Lafayette Amnesty chapter avoids discussing the most controversial topics.

“We don’t push the controversial stuff, it’s not necessary. If you look at Amnesty’s website, there will be things on there like death penalty. We’re not doing death penalty, that’s too controversial,” Hereford said.

Junior Gabriela Avila was inspired to join Amnesty International based on her older sister’s experience during her time at Lafayette and has found her own involvement in Amnesty International to be a rewarding experience.

“It’s about universal issues that are always going to be here, like human rights and basic stuff that’s really important, so I find value in that,” Avila said.

In addition to promoting knowledge of international issues, Amnesty International provides a way for students to get active in the community and create change.

“We’re much more going along with general international human rights and kind of getting kids to realize that there’s much more going on in the world than what’s going on just in mid-USA,” Hereford said.

For more information, see www.amnestyusa.org