Logan High club inspired by USU event
Sometimes Utah State events create a lasting impact for those who attend them. Such was the case for Logan High interact club president Emma Crumbley.
Crumbley said she attended the showing of “Girl Rising” by Utah State University’s Center for Women and Gender in October of 2013 with the then-interact club president and has wanted to share the experience of the documentary ever since.
More than $200 were raised at the Logan High School showing of “Girl Rising,” on Friday night, thanks to the club.
“We were really moved by it,” Crumbley said. “We thought it would be cool to bring it to high schoolers and to the community because that screening (in 2013) was angled more toward university students.”
The interact club at Logan High is a student-based organization that focuses on international and local community service. Last school year, the club was planning a trip to Mexico to build houses for their international service project when their plans suddenly changed.
“There was a lot of violence in the town we wanted to go to,” Crumbley said. “So we decided to donate all the money that we raised to the family that we were going to build the house for.”
The money raised totaled approximately $2,000, which also won the club an award from rotary international Crumbley said.
But this year, the club was left to without as much money to fund international and local service projects.
After purchasing the license for the documentary, the club organized the event to give back to the community.
“Rather than spending money on ourselves with transportation and food, we decided to give back as much as we wanted to,” said vice president of the interact club Katelin Ong. “Whatever money we would get from the showing of ‘Girl Rising,’ we would donate to the Girl Rising Fund, and that in itself donates to a lot of nonprofits in developing countries.”
Directed by Richard E. Robbins, the documentary follows eight girls from different countries as they overcome arranged marriages, child slavery, poverty and more to obtain their educations. Each girl was matched with a writer from her own country to tell her story and celebrities like Meryl Streep and Liam Neeson provided voice performances in the film.
For those in community that saw the film, like Aspen Nielsen, a senior at Mountain Crest High School in Hyrum, Utah, the film provided the community with a way to “create a discussion” about education for women in developing countries.
“I think when we talk about it, we promote the idea going around,” Nielsen said. “And I think that’s a really good thing. Especially for people who have the opportunity to travel to these countries and to educate girls and women about the choices they can make to make their societies better.”
Nielson also said that the film helped the community realize the importance of women and girls receiving an education.
“I think a lot of times we discount the fact that, in other nations especially, girls do not get an education,” Nielsen said. “It’s really important for them to realize that there are things that we can can do to to make steps toward getting education and lowering birthrates and other things that happen.”
— katherine.l.larsen@gmail.com