Members of Blair’s Amnesty International organization are putting pen to paper in an effort to make the world a more just and compassionate place. Through the global Write for Rights initiative, the group has challenged the school community to live the Blair value of being global citizens contributing to the greater good. Collectively, the Blair community worked together to draft and deliver more than 100 letters to governments, leaders and decision-makers to shine a light on critical issues and advocate for change.

“Students either wrote hopeful messages to individuals or urgent, call-to-action letters to their government officials to demand justice for those whose human rights are under threat,” Naomi Limann ’26 explains. “We hope that through this campaign, we give students experience in activism and using their voice for good.”

To encourage participation, Naomi—along with classmates Ella Poliquin ’27 and Elise Israel ’25—created a dorm competition on campus, offering prizes to the dorms submitting the most letters. But the team didn’t stop there. They hosted a bake sale during lunch with letters being the currency of choice, exchanging brownies and cupcakes for two letters. The trio went one step further by partnering with students in Blair’s Human Rights course, led by John Redos ’09, to collect letters for extra credit. Naomi, Ella and Elise, who took the class last year, were motivated by the subject matter.

“Mr. Redos was an incredible teacher, and throughout the course, we learned, discussed and advocated for various human rights issues,” Elise says. “Inspired by the experience, we wanted to continue taking action, so we decided to establish an Amnesty International chapter at Blair to create opportunities for proactive efforts in protesting human rights violations.”

Amnesty International reports that the international letter-writing campaign has made a monumental impact. Of the 10 human rights violation cases they focused on this year, two have already seen positive outcomes. In January, 32-year-old Ana da Silva Miguel, aka Neth Nahara on TikTok, was released from prison after Angola’s president announced a pardon for the social media influencer, who had been detained for more than a year for criticizing the country’s leader.

The success of the Write for Rights campaign shows just how powerful the collective voice can be. As Amnesty International continues to report real and positive outcomes, it continues to spark hope in Blair’s young activists. “We hope to continue to evoke a sense of passion in our peers through petition signing, more friendly competitions, and open discussions about human rights issues on our podcast, ‘Voices for Change,’” Ella shares. “Specifically, this spring, we will interview Mr. Redos on human rights issues that have arisen from climate change for our first episode.”