April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and several events took place this month at St. Paul’s in recognition.
On April 10, St. Paul’s hosted the Crisis Center of New Hampshire Breakfast Fundraiser, also known as the Resilience Breakfast. This is the second annual Resilience Breakfast, which was held in the Stovell Tennis Courts and catered by Flik. Members of the local community purchased tickets to the event, and SPS faculty, staff and students reserved a table. Three students attended the breakfast: Char Machiels ‘25, Nicole Onuoha ‘25, and Arianna Hurtado ‘25. “It was an inspiring and informative event, and I was honored to be a part of it,” says Hurtado.
Along with presentations by the Executive Director of CCCNH and the presentation of awards, attendees heard from keynote speaker Emma Mannion, whose story is featured in the Netflix documentary “Victim/Suspect.” Mannion shared her experience with sexual assault at the University of Alabama in 2016 and her inspiring and moving journey since.
Seven SPS students attended the Eight Schools Association Sexual Violence Summit at Phillips Exeter on April 12. Speakers included Jenna Kaufman, a Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor and Somatic Practitioner; James Wilkerson, the Director of Institutional Equity at Indiana University Southeast; and Kenyora Parham, the CEO of End Rape On Campus (EROC). The closing speaker, Mike Dormitrz, spoke to the attendees about consent. “His talk was literally life-changing,” said attendee Olivia Blanchard ‘24. “The way he presented prevention for sexual violence was creative and applicable. He was able to grab our attention for the entire time he was on stage and everyone wanted to hear more when he was done.”
The main event at the summit was a Q&A by author Chanel Miller, whose award-winning book “Know My Name” was a New York Times bestseller. After her presentation, Miller visited with summit attendees and signed books. Attendee Nicole Onuoha ‘25 found Miller particularly inspiring. “She expressed how hard it was for her to share her story to the public, but how in doing so, she helped so many people who had suffered from similar experiences to be open and seek help.”
The SPS students who attended the Summit were also able to connect with students from similar schools, which Blanchard says she found meaningful. “I feel that each school was represented so well. Each student I spoke to was outgoing, well spoken, kind, and eager to spread awareness for sexual violence,” she says. “A few schools even spoke about clubs that they have at school which spread awareness about sexual violence which was very inspiring to us SPS students to start one of our own soon.”
Young Women’s Club, the affinity group for female-identifying students at SPS, hosted a poster-making session on April 15 to promote Denim Day, which takes place on April 24. This national awareness and advocacy day was established 25 years ago in Los Angeles. “Denim Day 1999 was a small rally,” writes the organization’s founder, Patricia Giggans. “We invited people to show up wearing jeans to protest the myths that the clothing you wear invites rape and sexual assault, one of the many misconceptions and lies told about women and girls and used as an excuse to blame them.” Since then, according to the organization's website, one hundred million people in all 50 states and over 100 countries have participated.
St. Paul’s participates in Denim Day by wearing denim to raise awareness and show support for sexual assault survivors. The posters created by the Young Women’s Club include statistics about sexual assault, support resources, and messages of solidarity.