Amnesty International is a new club this year at Edina High School. It targets and addresses current global issues. Like its parent organization, the club promotes activism in an effort to correct injustices and human rights violations.

The club is a great way to learn how to enact real and lasting change. “Sometimes these international issues seem so intangible, but this club provides a sort of local avenue to the international community and allows [members] to really engage and interact with these issues,” said EHS junior and club founder Madison Seeley.

This year, the club is setting its sights on targeting important issues like women’s rights and children at the border. “At the moment, [the club] is in the process of procuring resources to help better understand these issues,” said Seeley. After the first semester, the club will then begin to take action in regard to what has been learned in the first semester.

After spending three weeks volunteering in the Dominican Republic, Seeley was inspired to look beyond Edina, and find a way to expose real world issues to EHS. By bringing the club to Edina, she found a way to make a change, starting at EHS. “With the help of my staff advisor, Ms. Larkins, and the amazing coordinators of Amnesty International, we were able to get this club off the ground, and start to make a difference,” she said.

The club does not require much of a time commitment, as it only meets for every other week on Wednesdays for an hour after school. And of course, it is a club that looks great on a college application! For students at Edina High School, the club is a great way to work to make a difference about current injustices and crimes that are sometimes overlooked from the comfort of Edina.