Freeport High School students won second place in the 2014 national "Speak Truth to Power" video competition sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers, Tribeca Film Institute, Ensemble Video, and Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights in Washington, D.C.
The students created a six-minute mini documentary about the current advocacy initiative at the high school regarding children who are being used as exploited labor in the carpet industry. Freeport teacher Pamela Mary Schmidt is one of the original writers of the "Speak Truth to Power" global curriculum.
Freeport High School students have been raising awareness of important issues in our global community for the past two years under Schmidt's guidance. Through an ongoing art bracelet project, they have been generating support for disabled orphans in Haiti and children in Nepal. The programs connect students in the United States to children in both countries to facilitate human potential and promote dignity through self-sustainability and art. The children in both overseas locations paint wooded beads that Schmidt brings back to the United States. In turn, Freeport students turn the beads into bracelets and sell them. All of the support generated goes directly back to the needy children to fund an outdoor play area, a bakery that will feed thousands of Haitians, and support the orphans' education.
