Raise awareness @ school

Before You Start...

The High School Power Struggle
If you really want to make a difference at your school, you have to get inside the power structure. Don't end up on the wrong side of your administration, or you'll spend more time fighting the bureaucracy than getting things done. This may be easier for you if you have a progressive administration or good staff advocate. Regardless, here are some suggestions to help you get your in-school activism off to a smooth start:

Organize a meeting with the administration. Talk to the Principal (or equivalent) and let them know what your group is about. Tell them about your plans, goals and how they can be of assistance. You may wish to give them a package with information about Amnesty's mandate.
Get in touch with student leaders - traditional and not. Talk to your Student Council and let them know what your group is doing. If possible, have a representative from your group attend Council meetings and look for ways the groups can support one another. Also look to student leaders in non-traditional structures; people that are respected by other students, or who are individual activists themselves. Talking with as many people as possible can gain you advocates and partners to help you down the road.
Don't forget the process people. These are people like the receptionist who schedules meetings and approves the PA announcements, or the custodian who makes sure the door to your meeting room is unlocked. Be sure to recognize the people that make life in your school a little easier - treating them with appreciation and respect will go a long way in making your life as an active student (or active group of students) much easier!

The Post-Secondary Perspective
As much as University can seem like a big scary place, it can also be a great opportunity to take your activism to the next level! More people can mean more fundraising opportunities, more group members, and bigger successes at your events and awareness-raising. Universities also tend to give their students a little more freedom and independence in terms of what issues to tackle, and how to tackle them. University can also mean a little more bureaucracy - so add the following tips to the list above to help you get involved at your university.

The Student Union is your friend. Most University clubs and services run out of the Student Union (also known as a Student's Federation or Society). These groups often have staff support that will help you get your group or event running. They can also help you out with things like funding, office space, tabling locations, web site support and much more. Your Student Union can be one of your most valuable allies. Use them.
Harness the Power of Diversity. One of the most excellent things about University is the diversity of the student body. Just by looking at the variety of clubs and services at your school, you see that your fellow students come from a lot of different backgrounds, and have many different interests. Use this to your advantage when trying to raise awareness. For example, invite the Political Science student society to your debate on "the Role of Government in Preventing Human Rights Abuses" or ask members of the Business Student's Association to get involved in Amnesty's work on Business and Human Rights. For many people, University is the time when they first become actively aware of the world around them - be sure to provide opportunities for people of all interests to become involved in your work!

Ways to Get Your School Active

This page focuses on how to get your school aware. That means we'll be talking mostly about human rights education and simple action opportunities. But that doesn't mean you should stop there! Awareness is great, but it's really only the first step. To be an activist, you've got to take action. Once you've got the "awareness" thing happening, capitalize on your momentum and start looking to take some action!

Great Ideas To Get You Started

Get A Group Together. First thing's first. This doesn't necessarily have to be a full-fledged Amnesty youth and student group (though once you get going, you never know where things will take you!) but can be rather a small group of dedicated people who will help you organize things. Check out Starting A Youth and Student Group for more information.
Table. Setting up an information table is an amazingly easy, excellent way to get information out at your school. The best part is, we have a guide to help you do it. See Tabling 101 to get started.
PA Announcement. Some schools have a "thought of the day" - why not an "action of the day" or "human rights fact of the day"? Talk to your administration to see if they'd be willing to co-operate with you on this.
Get In Print. Team up with your school paper or newsletter. You could get everything from a story on your Amnesty group to a regular column written by one of your members. Often, student newspapers are dying for content, so be prepared to write your own! For more information on this, check out Media 101 in our Activist Toolkit!
Organize an Assembly, Information Meeting or Conference. This takes a little more work than tabling, but it could have excellent results. Bring in a guest speaker, show a short film or hold a panel discussion. Check out our presentation tips!
Take Your School's Human Rights Temperature. Check out how at http://www.hri.ca/projects/hrtemperature/ Publicize the results with a giant thermometer on the wall. Consult with students after to develop recommendations on how to improve the human rights situation in your school.
Contest. Contests are one of the best ways to make people aware of your group, and to gather new supporters who haven't been involved with Amnesty before.
Screen a Video. Amnesty has tonnes of videos available, from our 40-minute "Cry for Justice" to informative documentaries on specific countries and theme. See our Video library to order films. You can show them on a regular screen, or get a bit more creative and project them onto walls or the sides of buildings. You'd be surprised what a great movie theatre your average cafeteria can make!
Harness The Power of the Classroom: A Captive Audience. Talk to your teachers about how you can incorporate Amnesty's human rights work into the curriculum. Human Rights Education compliments a number of subjects (English, civics, geography...) for all age levels. There are even teaching resources available from Amnesty and other NGOs. If you teacher is unable to include Amnesty in their teaching, you could even do a project or presentation yourself!

Deep Thoughts.. "The essence of the demand for freedom is the need of conditions which will enable an individual to make his own special contribution to a group interest, and to partake of its activities in such ways that social guidance shall be a matter of his own mental attitude, and not a mere authoritative dictation of his acts." - John Dewey in Democracy and Education