“I was in it my freshmen year because I was very much into human rights and being an activist,” Katie said. She explained that the club fell apart around her sophomore year, but that she was approached by Mrs. Noffsinger to revive it. They thought, Katie stated, “…especially right now with everything going on law-wise, that it would be a good idea to have a club like that to bring light to certain events going on.”

On February 12th, Sunlake’s Amnesty club celebrated their victory in the Write for Rights competition—an annual writing marathon organized by Amnesty International, bringing people together to pen letters as a form of protest against unjust actions by oppressors. Sunlake joined with Wiregrass Ranch and Land O’ Lakes High School to see which of their Amnesty Clubs could write the most letters for the movement. To the surprise of president Katie Madley, Sunlake ended up winning.

“I was impressed to say the least,” she expressed, “…because I wasn’t expecting us to write more letters than the other people and we wrote 87 letters, which is very good because our amnesty club is particularly small.” There were ten different topics that students could choose from to write about, but the one topic, according to Katie, “…that was relevant to us was petitioning Mark Zuckerberg in relation to the damages that he cost a certain group of people and having him pay for those damages.” The members celebrated their win with enthusiasm, hosting a small party and proudly receiving a trophy.

Although the Write for Rights was framed at a competition, it was ultimately a unified effort by all the schools’ Amnesty Clubs. Together, they were able to champion a cause and speak out against injustices around the world.