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By Laura Drinan
Hometown Weekly Reporter
On November 16, an outstanding group of over sixty Needham High School students hosted the eleventh annual Take Back the Night event in the school’s cafeteria. Although it’s a painful and uncomfortable subject to broach, the evening spreads awareness for sexual assault and domestic abuse.
With REACH Beyond Domestic Violence and the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC) partnering with Needham High on the event, Take Back the Night featured several guest speakers to share their survival stories. Lieutenant Belinda Carroll and State Representative Denise Garlick also spoke at the event, which incorporated performances from Needham High’s a cappella throughout the evening.
Lieutenant Belinda Carroll of the Needham Police Department has spoken at Take Back the Night for the past 11 years to show her support for raising awareness for sexual and domestic abuse.
“Domestic abuse has always been prevalent in our society, but it is never talked about in public,” said Lieutenant Belinda Carroll from the Needham Police Department. “Today, you turn on the news and it’s like every day another victim is stepping forward. You are giving them the power to speak about abuse that has taken a part of their life. Domestic violence is a public epidemic.”
Gabby Tercatin, Jaclyn Oniel, and Jenna Shaffer, senior co-chairs of the Take Back the Night Club, speak at the annual event to raise awareness for sexual and domestic violence.
After a performance from Needham High’s Fermata Nowhere, two speakers from BARCC told their stories of survival of childhood sexual abuse. The speakers welcomed questions and comments from the audience after they presented their stories, which helped begin a discussion on the many ways abuse and violence affects individuals.
Representative Denise Garlick speaks about respect, courage, and power in the community to combat sexual and domestic abuse.
“When we talk about sexual harassment and we talk about sexual assault, we’re not talking about sex; we’re talking about power and how power is used by some people over other people,” Representative Denise Garlick reminded the audience, as she spoke about respect, courage, and power. “I think the way we need to empower each other is the courage to speak, the courage to listen, and the ability to look at each other with respect and dignity.”
From REACH, one woman spoke about her choice to divorce her abusive husband, even though it meant living in poverty and in shelters for a period of time. A conversation afterward brought up the issues of humiliation and shame as a victim, and that there should not be any embarrassment from being a victim of abuse.
Providing entertainment in between presentations from survivors were Needham’s a cappella groups, including Treble Rebels.
The evening welcomed another performance from Treble Rebels before beginning the silent witness exhibit. Lining one wall of the cafeteria were red cutouts of men and women’s silhouettes. Stuck on each cutout was a piece of white paper with a homicide report on it.
“[The reports are] from Jane Doe, Inc., and it’s basically the reports of people who were victims of an intimate relationship and we share their stories,” explained senior co-chair Jenna Shaffer. “It just to reiterate the fact that it’s a big issue and especially with everything going on in the news today, we’re trying to bring awareness into our community”
The evening concluded with music by the Subway Dwarves, a march around the school, and a raffle for those in attendance. With an entire evening devoted to bringing attention to sexual and domestic abuse, Needham High proved that they are impassioned to help victims and survivors.
And that the community will always fight to end sexual assault and violence.
Needham High students vowed to be advocates for victims of sexual and domestic abuse at the eleventh annual Take Back the Night event.
