Use this page to help you plan an event or activity based on how much time you have. An activity can be as simple as one student with a sign (think of Greta Thunberg!) or something that takes a lot of planning and involves many students. ALL actions are valuable no matter how many participate! Remember, human rights advocacy starts with the person next to you.
Activities/events you can plan in as little as 24 hours: These can be planned individually or as a group, and likely don’t need permission from teachers or school administrators to host.
- Share why human rights are important to you on social media or in one-on-one conversations
- Host a conversation with teachers, friends, fellow-students and the value of human rights
- Human rights trivia during chapter meeting or at lunch (STF members share questions and discuss). Use these definitions or the UDHR to brainstorm
- QR code to the UDHR or human rights facts to pass out at lunch
- Chalk human rights phrases and facts on sidewalks around campus (verify with your teacher advisor if you need permission to do this on campus!)
- Schoology/Google Classroom posts about human rights
- Post a video on social media and ask friends to share
- Everyone wear the same color on the same day to raise awareness
- Take your school’s human rights temperature at lunch and ask students which issues were most important to them
- Interactive human rights tent at lunch. Include a take-action element, such as signing petitions or making a pledge to stand up for human rights at school, etc.
- Human rights trivia event during lunch (All STF members share questions, start conversations)
- Ask teachers to promote your advocacy/event in their classes (STF students present OR give information for teacher to share)
- Present about human rights at a Town Hall/Assembly/All-school meeting
- Give homeroom/advisory presentations on why human rights are important. Show one of the HRW Human Rights 101 Video Series as a resource
- Advertise through ASB
- Make an announcement to the whole school
- Place flyers, posters, QR code (linking to the UDHR, your STF chapter meeting information, or human rights facts) around campus (bulletin boards, etc.)
- Connect with allies on campus (other clubs, committees, parents groups, etc.)
- Send a community-wide email (to students and parents), mailer, and/or post on the school website
- Create social media posts asking your community to share which human rights are most important to them and why (Nextdoor, Instagram, Facebook, etc.)
- Write an op-ed piece for the school or local newspaper
- Host a teach-in at lunch/after school with underclassmen
- Present at faculty meetings
- Ask teachers to incorporate human rights in curriculum (the STF team can provide lesson plans and resources)
- Ask teachers to offer extra credit to students who do research on human rights issues facing your community or around the world
- Present about the importance of human rights at Town Hall/Assembly/All-school meeting
- Partner with other clubs on campus to do a teach-in or die-in
- Set up outdoor display where people can see, hear, and walk past such as a human rights tent event or art exhibit (collect single use plastic thrown away on campus and turn it into an art installation; create a mural, etc.)
- Everyone wear STF t-shirts
- Three-day build-up of advocacy: Day 1 share human rights facts at lunch or in classes; Day 2 take the human rights temperature of your school (for every 5 people you get to sign the petition, you get a raffle ticket to win school swag/prize); Day 3 raffle announcement and walkout or die-in
- Organize a Human Rights Task Force on campus (if interested, ask an STF team member)
- Start a school podcast to educate on human rights