Letter to the Board.

To the Board of Directors:

We are a group of dedicated students writing to inform you of our desire to start a chapter of the organization STAND in Cooperstown High School. STAND is an entirely student-run anti-genocide organization connected with the Genocide Intervention Network. Its primary goal is to spread awareness about ongoing crimes against humanity around the globe. STAND seeks to educate its members and the communities in which they live about the genocides ignored in the past and lessons to be learned from them. It is not politically-based and requires no money from the school, although it will need one or two teacher advisors. We have asked Mr. Jeff Snyder and Mrs. Rebecca Burk-Sciallo as our advisors if STAND begins. They have accepted our invitations.

This is not a chapter that will die within a year or two. In fact, the STAND organization will not fully register any chapter until it proves that it is a thriving, active group of committed students. We have been assigned a chapter coordinator, who will help us start the chapter and keep it running. Because of the visit to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on the inauguration trip, the screening of Schindler’s List, and the research being done in certain classes about genocide, a large group of students devoted to the cause is willing to do whatever it takes. Watching the events unfold in Darfur, Congo, and other areas of the world and feeling incapable of doing anything to help is a very frustrating feeling. STAND is a way for us to take action. The first step to solving any problem is to raise awareness, and this is the primary purpose of STAND – simply to raise awareness. While the organization itself embarks on a number of campaigns involving divesting funds, lobbying politicians both local and federal, and creating rallies, each chapter is individual, and there is no set list of things a chapter should do. We personally would like to focus on teaching the community about genocide.

We have included a list of signatures of students who are enthusiastic about the start of STAND and would love to see it happen before the end of the year, as well as frequently asked questions from the STAND website (www.standnow.org), an e-mail from our chapter coordinator Sarah Juster, and a brief description about STAND written by one of the students. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,