School News

St. Saviour’s honors International Day of the Girl

October 26, 2012 Denise Romano
BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/Photo by Denise Romano
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With students worldwide, St. Saviour seniors celebrated International Day of the Girl (IDG) on October 11.

The day was recognized by the United Nations in late 2011, aiming to raise awareness of the importance of young women’s education.

This year, the day was even more poignant, occurring two days after 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai of Pakistan was shot by Taliban members for blogging about the right of girls to go to school. The bullet barely missed her brain and she is now recovering in a British hospital.

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Sister Anne Lally, CSJ is the chair of St. Saviour’s religion department. Along with Campus Ministry and the Student Council, all students wore a burgundy ribbon to wear on their wrist to mark the day.

“The theme was to ‘Raise Our Hands,’” Lally explained, adding that in religion class that day, students watched a short video of girls throughout the world living in poverty and how getting an education saved their lives.

Danielle Dostaly, a 16-year-old senior, said that she already studies a lot of women’s rights issues in class and wearing the burgundy band, “brought a lot of awareness. I don’t think about on a regular basis that girls don’t have a right to education [in some countries].”

“I thought it was a good reminder that we are in the U.S. and that we get a right to education even if we are girls,” commented Catherine Walker. “No one thinks twice about it.”

Senior Raven DeLeon said that IDG reminded her of a book that she read in one of her Women’s Studies’ courses, Hinds Feet on High Places

“It’s a good opportunity to raise consciousness that not everyone in the world is treated fairly. I am grateful to have an education,” DeLeon said. “I am so happy that I am a girl in the U.S.”

Abigail Gillard commented that she knew that girls went to school all over the world, but never though they would be killed for it. “Sometimes I think, ‘Ugh,’ about school, so I have to remember this,” she said.

Dostaly added that she hoped IDG is something that stays around. “If we keep it alive, progress can be made.”


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