As activists we often feel like we are alone in the world and that we are some of the only people that care about making genocide history. However, this outlook on the movement is totally false and thankfully there are other crazy people in this movement (known affectionately as members of the STAND Leadership Team, or SLT) that have no quells staying up till after one in the morning to discuss the ICC indictments and the Responsibility to Protect Doctrine. We are so concerned with moving the movement forward that we seem to lose track of everything else in our lives(sleep included) and can look at our iPods and see that the STAND song has over 100 of plays when everything else only has 5-10.
I spent the last weekend totally living it up in Washington, DC, and I had so much fun! STAND had its Fall planning retreat with all the members of the Managing Committee and the Outreach Team (we are great at filling up a room!) and we put together this totally awesome Fall semester. I have to say that this semester is going to be epic and the upSTANDers across the world will not be let down. Even though we did some amazing things inside the conference room my favorite part of the retreat was hanging out with my fellow STAND Leadership Team members.
My favorite part of STAND is that, we as students, who know how to make people listen to us will work countless hours into making this the fastest and most organized movement in the world today! The wonderful people of the STAND Leadership Team are all students, the STAND chapters are all students, and it is STUDENTS that are calling all the shots. It is students that are juggling STAND, school, work, friends, and everything else to make the world a better place for people so far away that it would take a day of travel to get there.
If you ever feel lonely, call your Outreach Coordinator for your region/state because we know what that feels like to be a student waking up our campuses conscience, and I promise none of us bite (not to mention its impossible to do over the phone).
I will miss our totally amazing retreats in DC this semester but at the same time I cannot wait to make this semester the biggest in STAND’s history and be one step closer to making Genocide a thing of the past.
In Peace, Change, and Activism,
Zach Peirce
Southeast HS Regional Outreach Coordinator