Interview with Finora Franck, of the Boston Latin School's Pennies for Peace campaign.

"This is just another problem in the world that we've become more aware of, and can hopefully help in some way."—Finora Franck

1.Why would Fashion Modeling Life club be interested in bringing "Pennies for Peace"?

Well, we read Three Cups of Tea for summer reading, and also went to see Greg Mortenson speak at North Eastern University. His story and all that he said was really inspiring, and he sparked the idea for starting a Pennies for Peace project at the school. We took the general idea of Pennies for Peace, about how something as small as a penny can make a difference, but we decided to focus the project on human trafficking as opposed to building schools, because that cause was something that many of us in Fashion Modeling Life were very passionate about.   Also FML isn't just about fashion and modeling, but about life and what is going on in the world around us. We wanted to do some form of social activism, and we thought that this was a great opportunity.

2. How successful do you feel this project was?

It didn't go quite as well as we had hoped, but that was mainly because not enough people were aware of the project, especially since it was around the time of the year when there are a lot of other groups doing things like Globe Santa and other things that are well established in the school. People will give more to projects that have seen for years, like "Oh, I always give to this charity." Our project was brand new and it was something that not a lot of people really knew about as much, or had seen as much around school. But overall we were really pleased with the results that we got from the project.

3. Do you think the students and faculty at BLS felt motivated to help out on this project?

I think that student and faculty motivation didn't have anything to do with the fact that the project didn't go exactly as we would have liked. It was simply that we didn't have quite enough PR on the project, and that students and faculty weren't aware of what we were doing. There was also some confusion as to where to give money, and things like that.

4. What will you do differently if you do the Pennies for Peace project again?

We will definitely start earlier next year. We will also focus more on PR for the project, because that was our main problem. I think that if people are more aware of the project, and there is a more straightforward way to donate, that this can really grow over the years.

5. How do you think that the project affected you, and others in FML?

Well, it really affected us in two different ways. One was the logistical part of it, planning, keeping in touch with people, making all the signs, so on and so forth. I have experience with things like this, and this was a bigger project for me. The project also affected us personally. I mean, there are so many problems in the world, and you can't begin to become involved in all of them, or even be aware of all of them. This is just another problem in the world that we've become more aware of, and can hopefully help in some way.