On the evening of May 6^th, Amnesty International, SADD, JCWA, and Student Council sponsored Open Mic Night to raise money for Free the Children. The event was organized by Amnesty International, SADD and Student Council.

Amelia Wester, an Amnesty International Club member and a senior who organized the event, said, “Obviously Haiti is very poverty-stricken, especially after the earthquake.”

Wester continued, “People relate more easily to Haiti because of all the press it’s gotten recently, and because people know about it, they would be more likely to come to the event. [Though] I’m not sure Amnesty plans to remain involved [in funding the cause],” she said, “I think some students are planning to host their own events to help this cause.”

Free the Children is a program that advocates for the rights of children all around the world. According to the organization’s website, 12 year old Craig and Marc Kielburger founded the organization when Craig learned about the murder of a young boy in South Asia. The boy had been sold into slavery when he was only four years old and was punished for being brave enough to speak out against child labor.

Since then, the Kielburger brothers have built over 500 schools in countries such as Kenya, India, and Sri Lanka and have made improvements to impoverished areas. Through Feed the Children, the organizers of Open Mic Night wanted to raise money to build a school in Haiti.

The event consisted of a raffle, artwork, baked goods and performances from multiple students. The night began with an introduction from Howard Sobel informing the audience about the efforts of Free the Children. Next, students demonstrated their talents: singing, playing instruments and reading poetry. Senior Chloe Hernane sang two of her own original songs and then joined junior Kei Hitomi and senior Anand Rajan. Sophomore Jessie Gill performed an adaptation of Lady Gaga’s song, ‘You and I.’

Junior Jodi Fish said, “Everyone has such a gorgeous voice and that the whole performance was lovely.”

Junior Luana Turovskaya was the only one to recite a poem, which she had written herself.

The performance that probably received the most praise was a string trio consisting of juniors Jon Sender, Tony Sapell and Sam Goldman. Instead of playing the instruments with bows, they plucked familiar songs such as Green Day’s ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ and Guns n’ Roses ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine.’ The audience even began to sing along as the three musicians kept playing the mix of songs.

Yumi Matsuyama described the string trio, “They were sick.” She had seen a video of a previous performance on Facebook. “It was amazing to finally see them play in person,” said Yumi.

Sophomore Beth Moses said, “People really just need to be aware of what’s going on around the world,” and this event was “a well put together fundraiser for a good cause”.

Junior Evette Yedid added that “the cupcakes made by SADD were unbelievable,” and that “there was a great mix of different songs and music.”

BHS’s Open Mic Night raised around $900 and, according to social studies teacher Greg Deegan, “a new school in Haiti costs $8500. So BHS Unplugged really jump-started the fundraising that many of the organizations hope to continue next year.”