For our third Fieldwork, we had the author of Little Peach, Peggy Kern, come in and talk to the grade. She came from 8:30- 9:30 and talked to the class about sex trafficking. Peggy showed us a few pictures that she took in Brooklyn of the Pink houses, which is a place where many girls…
Not For Sale: Sex Trafficking
We are a group of four eighth graders trying to stop sexual trafficking. In New York City alone, 11,268 females (6,280 of them minors) were trafficking victims between 2000 and 2010. This means approximately 4 people in Manhattan are sold into slavery each day, their average age being 13. Our mission is to take the price tags of off all women and inform citizens for their own safety.
Interview With Patricia McCormick
by Olivia
For our second fieldwork, we met with the author Patricia McCormick at Starbucks for coffee and the interview. She wrote the book, Sold in 2006, which ended up becoming a movie. During our visit with Patricia, we learned a lot about what goes on in Nepal and India with sex trafficking. There are many cases…
Sheila Berman Interview
by Olivia
For our first field work, we facetimed a woman named Sheila Berman. She lives in D.C. and she’s an attorney. Sheila works on international human trafficking issues in our society. Her work is funded by the state police department. She works with prosecutors, trains police officers, and judges. She works for the department of justice…
A Class Interview with Peggy Kern
by Juliet
In early December, Peggy Kern, the author of Little Peach arrives wearing a mostly green attire and tall boots, that stop right below her knees. Her auburn hair straightened under her green beanie. Her words start, describing a lifestyle that is unbearable. She tells us that most girls forced into prostitution live about seven years…
An Interview With Patricia McCormick
by Juliet
For an interview of such a dark nature we traveled to a quiet friendly location. We crossed the three blocks to Starbucks, in heavy rain with a single computer hidden within a small pink bag. Upon arriving we had found that she had already beaten us there. From there we all hit it off, questions…
Watching Very Young Girls
by Rose Merjos
During a lunch/recess period in February, my Social Justice Group watched Very Young Girls directed by David Schisgall. We invited the Women in the Media Social Justice Group and the End Rape on Campus Group to watch with us because some of our topic’s concepts overlapped. Very Young Girls was produced by Rachel Lloyd (founder…
More Volunteer Work with Sanctuary for Families
by Rose Merjos
On Friday, February 27, Celia, Campbell and visited Sanctuary for Families once again. We emailed Lauren Mindel a couple weeks before our visit telling her we would love to come in and help. Lauren gladly accepted our offer by saying Leah and the In-Kind Donations Program and Sanctuary could never have too much help. Leah is…
Discussion With Ileana Jimenez
by Rose Merjos
On Tuesday, February 17, my Socia\l Justice Group and I met with Ileana Jimenez at Elisabeth Irwin High School. Ileana is feminist teacher at EI. She is also very involved in LGBTQ/Women’s Rights. When Maxine, Campbell and I (Celia was absent) arrived at the high school, Ileana greeted us in the lobby and led us to…
Interview with Sister Mary Ellen
by 19campbellp
After attending a speech from Sister Mary Ellen O’Boyle, my group decided to ask her for an interview about Sexual Trafficking. We met with her for coffee and she told us lots of important information. she told us that Sexual Trafficking happens everywhere. She told us about an article she read about how there was…
Visit to Sanctuary For Families
by 19campbellp
My group had the pleasure of visiting Sanctuary for Families, a organization aimed to help victims of sexual trafficking and domestic violence. They invited us to their primary Manhattan location where we learned about the organization and helped put coats and clothing in their Butterfly Boutique, a store for victims of abuse to get clothing…
Interview With Peggy Kern
by Rose Merjos
On Friday, December 12, my social justice group and I interviewed Peggy Kern, author of realistic fiction young adult novel, Little Peach. Little Peach is about a fourteen year old named Michelle who is a victim of sexual trafficking or modern day slavery. All my group members had finished Little Peach in under two days and agreed…
Interviewing Peggy Kern!
by 19maxiner
On Friday, December 12th my social justice group and I were planning to meet Peggy Kern. Peggy Kern is the author who wrote, what is now one of my favorite books, Little Peach. Every member of our group has read the amazing story and we were so excited to meet her. When we went to the…
Speaker Sister Mary Ellen O’Boyle
by 19campbellp
On Thursday, November 13th 2014, Sister Mary Ellen O’Boyle visited and spoke to the whole class. We had interviewed her before and had asked her to revisit. Sister Mary Ellen O’Boyle is a great person who has fought sex trafficking and modern day slavery for 8 years, and has made a very big difference. She…
Interview with Peggy Kern: Author of Little Peach
by 19campbellp
On Friday, December 12th, my group and I met with the talented Peggy Kern to discuss her book Little Peach. Little Peach cleverly captures the life of a 14 year old girl named Michelle as she is forced to make the hard decision to leave her home and travel to New York, where she is tricked…
Interview With Peggy Kern
by 19celiab
Peggy Kern is the author of an amazing book called Little Peach. My group and I were lucky enough to read the book and then later on have an interview with Peggy. Before the interview my group and I read her book. It was absolutely amazing. The book is about a girl named Michelle who…
Sister Mary O’Boyle’s Presentation to The Class
by 19celiab
After meeting with sister Mary Ellen O’Boyle for an interview, she agreed to come and speak with the class. She gave a great presentation about sexual trafficking. During the presentation she explained to the class what sexual trafficking is, who it affects, what it looks like, and where it takes place. Sister Mary was very…
Sister Mary Ellen O’Boyle’s Visit to Our School
by Rose Merjos
On November 13, Sister Mary Ellen O’Boyle joined the whole eighth grade at our school in a conversation about sexual trafficking. We had organized for Sister Mary to visit at our previous interview with her, but we had never discussed what she was going to talk about with our class. This made us a bit nervous, especially…
Volunteering at Sanctuary For Families
by 19celiab
On November 12, my group and I visited Sanctuary for Families. Sanctuary for Families is a non profit organization that offers facilities for victims of human trafficking. Sanctuary for Families offers facilities in over thirty languages. My group and I were lucky enough to meet with one of their staff members, Lauren Hindle. Lauren was…
Volunteer Work at Sanctuary For Families
by Rose Merjos
On November 12, my three groupmates and I visited and volunteered at Sanctuary For Families. Sanctuary For Families is a clinic that houses women and girls who have suffered from commercially sexually exploitation or domestic violence. Sanctuary is also made up of many attorneys who help the victims in a more legal aspect. For example, if a victim…
Visiting Sanctuary for Familes
by 19maxiner
On November 17th, my group and I completed our second field work and took a visit to Sanctuary for Families in downtown Manhattan. We were extremely excited about going to meet with them because of the positivity we heard about last years group visit and that we finally found an organization that would work with…
Meeting Sister Mary Ellen O’boyle
by 19maxiner
On November 4th, we experienced our first field work. We spoke on the phone with a nun named Sister Mary Ellen O’Boyle. A group member had already met her because she is a nun at his church so that’s how we initially met her. We spoke to her about meeting and conversing the topic of…
Meeting With Sister Mary Ellen O’Boyle
by 19celiab
The meeting with Sister Mary O’Boyle was my group’s first social justice fieldwork. My group didn’t have any experience on how to interview someone so she helped us learn the ropes on how to be respectful and attentive during an interview. Sister Mary was lovely and made my group and I feel comfortable. Not only…
Interview With Sister Mary Ellen O’Boyle
by Rose Merjos
On November 4th 2014, Celia, Campbell, Maxine and I met Sister Mary Ellen O’Boyle, a sexual trafficking specialist. We were slightly nervous at the beginning of our meeting for we had never conducted an interview before. However, Mary Ellen was very warm, welcoming and very appreciative that eighth graders were taking on such a heavy issue. Currently,…
Sister Mary Ellen O’Boyle at Xavier Highschool 10/26/14
by 19campbellp
On Sunday, October 26th, I attended a speech from Sister Mary Ellen O’Boyle at St. Francis Xavier High School. Sister Mary Ellen O’Boyle has been working to fight the problem of Human Trafficking for 10 years, and has made a great impact. There are only 2,173 beds available for Sexual Trafficking Survivors in the United…
Sex Trafficking
by Clair
We are a group of four eighth graders trying to stop sexual trafficking. In New York City alone, 11,268 females (6,280 of them minors) were trafficking victims between 2000 and 2010. This means approximately 4 people in Manhattan are sold into slavery each day, their average age being 13. Our mission is to take the…
