Taking action

No one is too young to make a difference at home or abroad

By Amy Rewolinski
Special to MyFaith

They find innovative ways to collect money for those in need, they work in villages and townships for months on end, network people together in a community for bigger results and stand up for those without a voice. And most aren’t even 22 years old. 

Throughout the United States, numerous opportunities are offered to young people for volunteer and social justice issues. These opportunities are often taken up for various reasons but with one central idea that they all share - service for others helps everyone involved.

Kat Clark is a senior at Prairie School in Racine and has long been involved in social justice issues. Clark is the outreach coordinator for STAND (Students Taking Action Now: Darfur). Two years ago, after watching documentaries about the genocide and other injustices in Africa, Clark got involved by joining a student campaign genocide collation. With nearly 800 active chapters in the country, Clark hopes that through STAND, she, too, can make a difference in Africa.

“I was originally interested in the ‘Invisible Children’ campaign, which is not related to Darfur,” Clark said. “It’s about child soldiers in Uganda, and that’s a really good cause to get involved in as well if you’re a student. I wanted to help out more, and so I started reading about other things that were going on in Africa.… That’s when I started looking at STAND and became really involved.”

STAND was formed in 2004 in response to the violence in Darfur. Focusing mainly on ending genocide, it encourages members to learn about other conflicts. Instigated and circulated entirely by students around the country, each STAND chapter is formed independently. Its duties are to raise awareness on their campuses, schools and in their communities, and advocate their elected officials for significant legislative action.

“All of us who are outreach coordinators get together on the regional and the national level to do tours on national campaigns,” Clark explained. “So, we all coordinate together, and if there are any questions from the Wisconsin students about Darfur to any of the different Darfur groups in Wisconsin, they get directed to me. Or, if people sign up on the Web site – anyone from Wisconsin – they go to our new chapter outreach coordinator and then they get to me. So I basically deal with anyone from Wisconsin who is a high school, college or middle school student and is interested in helping with what we do.

“I think a lot of times students feel they can’t do a lot because they won’t be taken seriously,” Clark said. “But probably the most ironic thing is that students can have the most impact on what’s going on. Legislators especially respond to what young people have to say, because that’s what the media are interested in and it’s what people care about. I think it’s definitely important for students to start early so that they’ll keep on doing it the rest of their lives, and get into the habit of being aware, and really caring about other people and knowing they can do something about it.

“Younger people can actually have more of an impact than adults. I know especially that if really young kids write handwritten letters to a senator, it will have a much larger impact than somebody older typing something up and sending it in. [When I was young] I just definitely felt that people really listened to what I had to say, so I don’t think there’s any reason not to start when you’re really young,” Clark added.

Virginia Zignego, 24, also believes in starting young. She is the communications director for Pro-Life Wisconsin and is trying to implement a network for pro-life teen groups around the state.

“I went to March for Life this year, and there were about 75-85 percent of the people there who were teens and college students,” she said. “I really wanted to bring a lot of that back to Wisconsin and network all the teen groups here in Wisconsin because there are all of these college pro-life groups, and then there’s high school groups, but it seems like you don’t really see a lot of the teen pro-life spirit in Wisconsin, even though they’re there. My goal is to have a teen/young adult pro-life demonstration march in the near future.”

She is weighing whether to network the young adult pro-life organizations in Wisconsin or just start her own.

“One of the things that I feel very strongly about inputting is crisis pregnancy centers. The Pregnancy Help Center in Milwaukee has a fund-raiser where they give people baby bottles and you fill them with change and then give it back,” she said. “It’s a really simple fund-raiser that people get involved in and [become] really enthusiastic about, and I would like to have a similar fund-raiser and then give it all back to the Crisis Pregnancy Center.”

Zignego said it’s important for young people to get involved early with the pro-life movement, mainly as a way to influence their peers.

“As a student, if you’re with thousands of other people for seven to eight hours of every day, there’s a definite potential for education there. It’s cliché to say, but the youth are the future. If you get teens to think what their pro-life views are when they’re young, then they’ll be much more likely to continue that as they’re older,” she said.

This is true for Heidi Hawkinson and Josee Weigand, 15-year-old home schooling students from West Bend. They attending their first March for Life in Washington, D.C. this year and said being there opened their eyes to important issues.

“We all gathered in this one park in Washington, D.C. and there was this big stage where senators and other congressmen spoke about abortion and they gave speeches, so that was encouraging,” Weigand explained. “Then we all took signs to post [that said] “Abortion is murder” and pictures of babies and other signs around. After about two hours we started marching toward the capitol and the Supreme Court, holding our signs. We marched for about two hours. We wanted to make a statement to our congressmen and to everybody in Washington, D.C.,” Weigand added. While attending the daylong protest, both of them became more aware of what they were standing up for.

“Finding out how they actually murdered and killed the babies, and how many have been killed and everything kind of shocked us – how people and doctors do this to little kids,” Weigand said.

Many students and young people today move globally to become involved in social justice issues. Robert Wiedie and Katherine Coldwell, both juniors, traveled to South Africa for Marquette University’s Service Learning In South Africa in fall 2007. While there, they attended classes at the University of the Western Cape and worked with community-based, grassroots organizations. This provided them rare insight into what it means to advocate for peace in another country.

“I chose it for the service learning component because it was an awesome opportunity to serve in another culture and work with the people there,” Coldwell said. “I didn’t want the typical study abroad experience because I knew that touring and partying wasn’t going to fulfill me in the same way that giving to others would. I was able-bodied and educated, and I wanted to go over there and use those parts of myself. If I was going to be there, I wanted to make myself useful.”

Coldwell was placed at The Desmond Tutu HIV/AIDS Foundation (DTHF), located in Masiphumelele, home to nearly 14,000 people, and where one in four are HIV positive. A non-profit organization that provides HIV treatment, it helps educate people on HIV prevention and awareness. Coldwell’s job was to help create a center for youth and young adults. This proved more challenging than she anticipated.

“My job was to start after school programs that would eventually move into the center once the center was built,” Coldwell said. “I was the first Marquette student to work there, so it was kind of hard to get it going. But this was good in the end because every little headway we made ended up being really positive. By the end, we had developed after school ping-pong and volleyball.

“My work at the [DTHF] clinic was definitely the most powerful,” Coldwell said when asked about her most meaningful experience in South Africa. “I found a lot of renewal there. Working at the clinic helped me build a lot of confidence in myself and I think I was able to give the Xhosa people more confidence in their ability, too. [Due to apartheid] they gave up too easily, because for years they were taught to give up. For me to come in and say that yes, there is a way, that made a big difference.”

Robert Weigand met similar challenges when he entered Marquette’s program. He chose service learning as a way to do something different in his college career, and found an adventure awaited him in Cape Town.

“I’m a people person, and I know I’m not going to do well behind a desk. I wanted to be out there in the community, but at the same time getting tasks done, a job accomplishing something. They put me in two sites, my first being Sibanye Economic Empowerment, which is a craft marketing body that provides market access and skills training for HIV-infected crafters. My job was to do Web design and my other job was to do peer work,” he said.

Weigand also worked at Boys Town Homes, an organization of eight registered children’s homes throughout the country that house and care for challenged youth, and teach them the skills they need to grow into healthy adults. He tutored the kids on economics and math, as well as various other life skills.

“By being here [South Africa] I was really able to grasp reconciliation, where it’s been nearly 14 years past apartheid,” said Weigand. “I don’t know if you can imagine coming from the most devastating tragedy you can imagine, and know how people can forgive, and how they can live and piece back their lives together. We met with Archbishop Tutu, plenty of authors, and saw some plays. Every opportunity went back to the central idea of healing. The service aspect of the program is that it really humbles you. You’re not there just working for a community organization, but you’re there participating in a way that adds a small piece. You’re there, you’re a part of it, and it’s very real.” 
They find innovative ways to collect money for those in need, they work in villages and townships for months on end, network people together in a community for bigger results and stand up for those without a voice. And most aren’t even 22 years old. 

Throughout the United States, numerous opportunities are offered to young people for volunteer and social justice issues. These opportunities are often taken up for various reasons but with one central idea that they all share - service for others helps everyone involved.

Kat Clark is a senior at Prairie School in Racine and has long been involved in social justice issues. Clark is the outreach coordinator for STAND (Students Taking Action Now: Darfur). Two years ago, after watching documentaries about the genocide and other injustices in Africa, Clark got involved by joining a student campaign genocide collation. With nearly 800 active chapters in the country, Clark hopes that through STAND, she, too, can make a difference in Africa.

“I was originally interested in the ‘Invisible Children’ campaign, which is not related to Darfur,” Clark said. “It’s about child soldiers in Uganda, and that’s a really good cause to get involved in as well if you’re a student. I wanted to help out more, and so I started reading about other things that were going on in Africa.… That’s when I started looking at STAND and became really involved.”

STAND was formed in 2004 in response to the violence in Darfur. Focusing mainly on ending genocide, it encourages members to learn about other conflicts. Instigated and circulated entirely by students around the country, each STAND chapter is formed independently. Its duties are to raise awareness on their campuses, schools and in their communities, and advocate their elected officials for significant legislative action.

“All of us who are outreach coordinators get together on the regional and the national level to do tours on national campaigns,” Clark explained. “So, we all coordinate together, and if there are any questions from the Wisconsin students about Darfur to any of the different Darfur groups in Wisconsin, they get directed to me. Or, if people sign up on the Web site – anyone from Wisconsin – they go to our new chapter outreach coordinator and then they get to me. So I basically deal with anyone from Wisconsin who is a high school, college or middle school student and is interested in helping with what we do.

“I think a lot of times students feel they can’t do a lot because they won’t be taken seriously,” Clark said. “But probably the most ironic thing is that students can have the most impact on what’s going on. Legislators especially respond to what young people have to say, because that’s what the media are interested in and it’s what people care about. I think it’s definitely important for students to start early so that they’ll keep on doing it the rest of their lives, and get into the habit of being aware, and really caring about other people and knowing they can do something about it.

“Younger people can actually have more of an impact than adults. I know especially that if really young kids write handwritten letters to a senator, it will have a much larger impact than somebody older typing something up and sending it in. [When I was young] I just definitely felt that people really listened to what I had to say, so I don’t think there’s any reason not to start when you’re really young,” Clark added.

Virginia Zignego, 24, also believes in starting young. She is the communications director for Pro-Life Wisconsin and is trying to implement a network for pro-life teen groups around the state.

“I went to March for Life this year, and there were about 75-85 percent of the people there who were teens and college students,” she said. “I really wanted to bring a lot of that back to Wisconsin and network all the teen groups here in Wisconsin because there are all of these college pro-life groups, and then there’s high school groups, but it seems like you don’t really see a lot of the teen pro-life spirit in Wisconsin, even though they’re there. My goal is to have a teen/young adult pro-life demonstration march in the near future.”

She is weighing whether to network the young adult pro-life organizations in Wisconsin or just start her own.

“One of the things that I feel very strongly about inputting is crisis pregnancy centers. The Pregnancy Help Center in Milwaukee has a fund-raiser where they give people baby bottles and you fill them with change and then give it back,” she said. “It’s a really simple fund-raiser that people get involved in and [become] really enthusiastic about, and I would like to have a similar fund-raiser and then give it all back to the Crisis Pregnancy Center.”

Zignego said it’s important for young people to get involved early with the pro-life movement, mainly as a way to influence their peers.

“As a student, if you’re with thousands of other people for seven to eight hours of every day, there’s a definite potential for education there. It’s cliché to say, but the youth are the future. If you get teens to think what their pro-life views are when they’re young, then they’ll be much more likely to continue that as they’re older,” she said.

This is true for Heidi Hawkinson and Josee Weigand, 15-year-old home schooling students from West Bend. They attending their first March for Life in Washington, D.C. this year and said being there opened their eyes to important issues.

“We all gathered in this one park in Washington, D.C. and there was this big stage where senators and other congressmen spoke about abortion and they gave speeches, so that was encouraging,” Weigand explained. “Then we all took signs to post [that said] “Abortion is murder” and pictures of babies and other signs around. After about two hours we started marching toward the capitol and the Supreme Court, holding our signs. We marched for about two hours. We wanted to make a statement to our congressmen and to everybody in Washington, D.C.,” Weigand added. While attending the daylong protest, both of them became more aware of what they were standing up for.

“Finding out how they actually murdered and killed the babies, and how many have been killed and everything kind of shocked us – how people and doctors do this to little kids,” Weigand said.

Many students and young people today move globally to become involved in social justice issues. Robert Wiedie and Katherine Coldwell, both juniors, traveled to South Africa for Marquette University’s Service Learning In South Africa in fall 2007. While there, they attended classes at the University of the Western Cape and worked with community-based, grassroots organizations. This provided them rare insight into what it means to advocate for peace in another country.

“I chose it for the service learning component because it was an awesome opportunity to serve in another culture and work with the people there,” Coldwell said. “I didn’t want the typical study abroad experience because I knew that touring and partying wasn’t going to fulfill me in the same way that giving to others would. I was able-bodied and educated, and I wanted to go over there and use those parts of myself. If I was going to be there, I wanted to make myself useful.”

Coldwell was placed at The Desmond Tutu HIV/AIDS Foundation (DTHF), located in Masiphumelele, home to nearly 14,000 people, and where one in four are HIV positive. A non-profit organization that provides HIV treatment, it helps educate people on HIV prevention and awareness. Coldwell’s job was to help create a center for youth and young adults. This proved more challenging than she anticipated.

“My job was to start after school programs that would eventually move into the center once the center was built,” Coldwell said. “I was the first Marquette student to work there, so it was kind of hard to get it going. But this was good in the end because every little headway we made ended up being really positive. By the end, we had developed after school ping-pong and volleyball.

“My work at the [DTHF] clinic was definitely the most powerful,” Coldwell said when asked about her most meaningful experience in South Africa. “I found a lot of renewal there. Working at the clinic helped me build a lot of confidence in myself and I think I was able to give the Xhosa people more confidence in their ability, too. [Due to apartheid] they gave up too easily, because for years they were taught to give up. For me to come in and say that yes, there is a way, that made a big difference.”

Robert Weigand met similar challenges when he entered Marquette’s program. He chose service learning as a way to do something different in his college career, and found an adventure awaited him in Cape Town.

“I’m a people person, and I know I’m not going to do well behind a desk. I wanted to be out there in the community, but at the same time getting tasks done, a job accomplishing something. They put me in two sites, my first being Sibanye Economic Empowerment, which is a craft marketing body that provides market access and skills training for HIV-infected crafters. My job was to do Web design and my other job was to do peer work,” he said.

Weigand also worked at Boys Town Homes, an organization of eight registered children’s homes throughout the country that house and care for challenged youth, and teach them the skills they need to grow into healthy adults. He tutored the kids on economics and math, as well as various other life skills.

“By being here [South Africa] I was really able to grasp reconciliation, where it’s been nearly 14 years past apartheid,” said Weigand. “I don’t know if you can imagine coming from the most devastating tragedy you can imagine, and know how people can forgive, and how they can live and piece back their lives together. We met with Archbishop Tutu, plenty of authors, and saw some plays. Every opportunity went back to the central idea of healing. The service aspect of the program is that it really humbles you. You’re not there just working for a community organization, but you’re there participating in a way that adds a small piece. You’re there, you’re a part of it, and it’s very real.”