Cultivating awareness
Flathead High School Junior Tierney Strandberg hugs fellow Flathead Abolitionist Movement club member Ashley Judd as the crowd moves into the auditorium for a viewing of the documentary “Call + Response.” About 200 people attended the showing.
Tierney Strandberg had no idea that a sick day last fall would change her life.
She couldn’t go to school, so instead she picked up a book, “The Road of Lost Innocence.” Somaly Mam’s book tells the true story of a Cambodian woman who escaped sexual slavery and is working to rescue other women and girls still trapped in that lifestyle.
“I was overwhelmed by what was going on,” said Strandberg, a junior at Flathead High School.
But she wasn’t stymied by the situation’s magnitude and horror for long. As soon as she was healthy and back in school, Strandberg turned to her peers and teachers — if anyone could help her help others, it would be the people in Flathead’s International Baccalaureate program.
Those students and teachers spend class time discussing international issues, and community service is emphasized throughout the program. All full IB students — those seeking an IB diploma — must complete 165 hours of creativity, action and service (CAS) projects.
“I knew as an International Baccalaureate student, I would have access to people who would help,” Strandberg said. “People are interested [in international issues] and they have power in the school to do something about it.”
Genia Allen-Schmid coordinates Flathead’s CAS in Action groups, which are designed to help students brainstorm ways to fulfill their hours in a meaningful way. Strandberg arrived at the first meeting fired up about raising awareness about slavery and human trafficking, Allen-Schmid said.
Strandberg’s first thought was to hold a community fair at the school, but she was limited by time, money and resources, Allen-Schmid said. But a week later, Strandberg’s chance to get involved found her.
Sue Rolfing, a representative of the Flathead Abolitionist Movement, came to Flathead to ask if the group could show “Call + Response,” a documentary about the global slave trade, at the school.
“I just about jumped out of my seat,” Allen-Schmid said. “I said, ‘We have a student who wants to do this very thing.’”
Strandberg leapt at the opportunity to get involved with the abolitionist group. She started a corresponding student group, FAM at FHS, and has worked tirelessly to help the community group find ways to get high school students involved in the cause.
In addition to helping organize the documentary’s showing Jan. 10, which attracted more than 200 people, Strandberg is helping organize two other events.
The first is a section of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration, which takes place at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the Flathead High auditorium. FAM at FHS will give speeches about human trafficking and perform music as part of the event.
The second is a panel discussion scheduled for 3 p.m. Feb. 14 at Glacier High School. Panel members will discuss slavery as it exists today, both in foreign countries and in the United States.
Strandberg is also selling merchandise to help the cause. She has bags made by Cambodian women and cards and jewelry made by Thai women who have escaped slavery.
Money from the sales will help women and girls get back on their feet, Strandberg said.
“You can buy someone out of slavery, but then you have a 12-year-old girl who can’t reintegrate into society,” she said. The money “will help them build a life, teach them a trade.
“It’s basically giving them a new life.”
Strandberg is in a unique position of being able to raise awareness about human trafficking nearly every weekend. She is a member of Flathead’s speech and debate team, and her original oratory speech is all about modern-day slavery.
“It’s really cool to give my speech all over the state every weekend,” Strandberg said. “I’m trying to cultivate awareness. It’s really hard to realize as a teenage girl that this is happening all over the world — and people don’t know. Really, people don’t know.”
The judges who hear her speech are often shocked, she said. Judges give feedback on speeches, and Strandberg’s comments have ranged from, “I can’t believe I didn’t know about this,” to “You need to be president.”
Strandberg said she is just glad for the opportunity to raise awareness about such an important topic.
“I’m not necessarily changing the world, but I am making a difference, if even a small one,” she said. “I really believe in the power of one.”
Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com