Empowerment for all

What: “Girls Rising” screening at the Camas High School theater, 26900 S.E. 15th St.

When: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Saturday, June 6.

Cost: There is a suggested donation of $5 per person. Homemade desserts will be available for purchase. Proceeds benefit Girls Learn International.

A human-rights focused club at Camas High School is hosting its first-ever event to promote advocacy and awareness.

The Girls Learn International Chapter will show the “Girls Rising,” documentary at the CHS theater Saturday, June 6. There will be homemade desserts for sale.

The club was started by juniors Corrine Bintz and Kris Ahn in January.

“My cousin started the first chapter five or six years ago at a different school, and I thought it would be a good idea to begin one here,” Bintz said. “We didn’t really have any human-rights focused clubs at CHS.”

According to the Girls Learn International website, it is designed to educate and energize U.S. students in the global movement for girls access to education, and pairs chapters in middle and high schools with partner schools in developing nations.

“GLI is building a movement of informed advocates for universal girls’ education and a new generation of leaders and activists for social change,” it states.

The CHS chapter has 20 members, which includes a mix of girls and boys.

“The topics we discuss impact everyone,” Bintz said. “I think that there is a misconception with the word, ‘feminist.’ What it really means it having equal rights for men and women.”

The group meets twice a month. Discussion and activities focus on a specific human rights issue.

“People don’t realize what a powerful tool education is for equal rights,” Bintz said. “It truly gives women so many tools to succeed in life.”

The June 6 documentary will highlight the importance of education for girls around the world.

There is a suggested donation of $5.

“We hope that those who attend will leave with a better understanding of how a cultural shift in belief can be more powerful than any legislative shift,” Bintz said.

Added Ahn, “Some of the kids who will be attending are doing so because their teachers have offered extra credit. But if they can leave with a sense of wanting to educate themselves and others, then we have done a good job with this event.”