Interview with 133 Member Val Costa

When did you join AI, and why?

My freshman year in high school my history teacher told my class about AI and  the group at my school. It sounded interesting, so I decided to go.

What was the first meeting like?

The first meeting was sort of intimidating. I was the only freshman who went  to the meeting and I had no idea what was going on. It was also very inspiring though. The people that were there truly believed in "Write a Letter, Save a Life." So I guess you could say that it's their fault that I think letter-writing is the strength of AI.

Can you tell us about some of your roles in Amnesty, or what role you would like to play?

Right now I'm the coordinator of Get on the Bus 2000. I went on the bus last year with my high school group and found the whole experience to be very  inspiring. So I ended up coming to college in Boston and remembered Group 133 from that trip. Then I trekked up to Davis Sq. to go to a meeting. Again, the first meeting was intimidating (I'm quite shy) but I wanted to get  involved. Stefanie mentioned get on the bus and things started rolling from there. It's so easy to get involved with this group, there's always something

to do, some new project to head. Everyone here is so helpful and focused.  They are truly concerned about what is going on in the world.

What was your best/most successful AI experience?

My best/most successful AI experience has to be seeing my high school group grow to over thirty members -- there weren't enough seats in the room for one meeting! It was so inspiring because I knew that we had gotten our message out, that sitting in room 305 were thirty people who were each going to "write a letter and save a life." I think my most successful experience was our campaign on women's rights day. A group of us went to every English class (the only class everyone has to take) with two petitions. One for Lori  Berenson and one for the women in Afghanistan. We explained both of their "cases" to everyone and asked them to sign the petition. In the end, we got over 700 signatures on each petition. Unfortunately, Lori Berenson is still imprisoned in Peru and the situation for women in Afghanistan hasn't improved.

Who are your role models?

People I've wrote letters for and/or protested on behalf of -- Lori Berenson,  Ken Saro-Wiwa, the 12 nuns... they have so much energy, so much faith in what they're doing is truly right. My high school history teacher, Mr. Peachy, who introduced me to AI and Mike Bilotta, who showed me that students had the  power to make a difference. Everyone from 133 amazes me and I look up to all of them, there is so much energy in the room at the meetings. There are so many people, those are just a few.