A powerful message was conveyed to the students at Canowindra High School last Wednesday at the launch of White Ribbon Day by guest speaker Dan Jacket from the Cowra Information and Neighbourhood Centre.
Mr Jacket, a White Ribbon Ambassador addressed the whole school and gave a strong visual to the children when he asked all female students to stand up and then asked 2/3 to sit down. This represented that 1/3 of the women in the room left standing would at some stage in their life be subject to violence from a man.
The male students were then asked to stand and take the oath “I will stand up, speak out and act to prevent men’s violence against women.”
Steve Wilson, White Ribbon Day Co-ordinator at the High School and the entire White Ribbon Day committee made up of other staff and students had a whole afternoon of activities planned for the school following the presentation including making your own white ribbon and also team building activities focused on doing something else with your hands rather than being violent.
The students were treated to a FREE BBQ lunch after they wrote down a White Ribbon fact or statistic and pinned it on the noticeboard. This is a great initiative by Canowindra High School, the White Ribbon Day Community march led by the High School students will take place in November down Gaskill St.
By Sarah Maynard