“You’re the one who has taught me that I have a voice and that I can use it. You have empowered and inspired me,” freshman Isabelle R. said to Spence History teacher Barbara Berg after a powerful student-led protest along Fifth Avenue in the wake of the Stanford University rape case that ignited outrage nationwide.

The June decision by a California judge to give former collegiate swimmer Brock Turner a six-month jail sentence was considered by many people to be too lenient. Isabelle was among them. She said her initial anger led her to learn more about the case. Her frustration grew because she said she knows this is not the only story. Many “rape and sexual assault cases on college campuses are swept under the rug,” she said, and even when those people “are prosecuted, the consequences for those found guilty are often minimal.” The high-profile case made Isabelle resolute that she had to do something.

In Physics class that day, Grade 9 advisor and teacher Rebecca Waysek helped Isabelle strategize an appropriate call to action and Isabelle immediately suggested a protest. Other Spence students shared her perspective and wanted to help. Waysek said students “spoke in-depth about sexual assault, victim blaming and shaming, inequity in sentencing (race versus privilege)” as well as what exactly “women can do to support each other.” She said support is an important subject for all young women, especially Spence girls who work together in an all-female community. The extended discussion left Waysek with “a profound sense of hope.”

Within two days, students had planned their peaceful protest to raise awareness and honor the victim in the case. A core group of students helped Isabelle: June T., Emi S., Daniela F., Charlotte G., and many other contributing ninth-graders, including Savanah R. ’19, who took pictures exhibited here of the Peaceful Protest that day. June and Isabelle issued a call for support during Upper School Assembly, prompting more than 100 students to gather along Fifth Avenue. The peaceful protest also drew family members of Spence students, friends and students from Greenwich, CT. The event began with a reading by students of the victim’s letter to her attacker. Students stood as one with handmade signs consisting of Twitter quotes about the case and statistics about rape, such as “one in eight women have experienced an attempted or completed rape.” The gathering attracted many onlookers, with some stopping to ask questions about the case.

In summary, Berg said that, although she is aware of how much of the discussion of everyday issues “takes place online,” she believes that a “public demonstration, such as we had, engages people in a [more] meaningful way” as well as serves as an educational force for a larger population about social wrongs and injustice.

Isabelle’s one-person push to organize a peaceful protest exemplifies the individualism that goes along with being a Spence girl and highlights the strong call-to-action mentality that so many students show during and after their time at Spence. “Everyone who was there that afternoon, learned that our collective voice matters,” Berg said.

For Isabelle, it was a moment she will not forget: “The outpouring of support that we received from the Spence community was incredible.”