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CERRITOS HIGH STUDENT CREATES SCHOOL-WIDE SEXUAL HARASSMENT AWARENESS PROGRAM

RAISING AWARENESS: from (l-r) standing: Paris Kang, Annette Hsieh, Thrisha Senthilnathan, ABCUSD President of the Board Dr Olga Rios, Jermayne Le, Christine Chiang, Francine Carillo, Nicole Zarate. From (l-r) sitting: Ryan Betonio, Khushi Patel, and Emily Villarreal.

STAFF REPORT

Thrisha Senthilnathan , a junior at Cerritos high school, is currently working on her gold award for Girl Scouts, choosing an issue that is not commonly talked about in society, sexual harassment. 

The topic of sexual harassment is prevalent, but many high schools do  not fully prepare students; Senthilnathan saw this void and created a program called “ WE RISE ABOVE.”  

The main goal of the program is to educate high school students about the realities of sexual harassment, what they can do to prevent it, how they can protect themselves in different and difficult circumstances, all while opening them up to the topic of sexual harassment, sexual violence, and abuse.

 Senthilnathan started by recruiting fellow high school students, freshmen through senior, as ambassadors. 

Within a few weeks she was ready to go, hosting a sexual harassment prevention and educational workshop in the CHS school library this past December 5. 

The event was a huge success, with over 460 CHS students attending; even ABCUSD President of the Board Olga Rios attended.

The ambassadors erected booths and created informational posters and handouts for the students.

 Two companies attended, Z Ultimate self-defense studios and a sexual harassment organization called Waymakers.

Z Ultimate taught various self-defense moves while Waymakers helped the students learn about counseling and what resources are available for support. Waymakers also brought a former victim of sexual harassment to share her experience with fellow students.

Prior to the workshop , Senthilnathan worked with her ambassadors during sexual harassment awareness week in October visiting more than ninety class rooms to hand out information about sexual harassment including posters, pens, and t-shirts, and to make them aware of the Dec. 5 workshop. 

Throughout the week, three sexual harassment education  videos were played on the school’s broadcast system impacting over 3,000 students. CHS’s broadcast team assisted Senthilnathan with publicizing the campaign and workshop. 

Senthilnathan told HMG-LCCN that the WE RISE ABOVE program would not have been possible without the help of CHS Principal, Mr. Walker; Vice Principal Ms. Lin ; Broadcast Director, Mr.  Rodriguez and all the wonderful CHS teachers, along with and Z Ultimate self-defense studios and Waymakers.

  • Body Parts Unlimited says:

    Television-star: Dr. Ruth said it very blatantly . “If you go around showing your private intimate Body- Parts, you’re guilty of FAILING the Scratch n Sniff test, don’t ask for prosecution by assault”.

    Nowadays it takes ANY two bodies to assault one another, keep your private parts covered and to yourself, world is full of jungle animals, unfortunately, not enough budget to prosecute every offender..

    Shameful, no males in said photo. Priests assaulted boys, scout leaders assaulted boys, coaches assaulted boys, so why erase men from said photo??? Were in 2020, not 1950!