A friend of mine was asked to create a website as a project in one of her classes. She decided to take this project a little further than just a grade and make it into a resource for parents who have a child that survived a sexual assault. This project made her feel all sorts of emotions while working on it and she did a wonderful job. This website deserves more publicity, so I decided to interview her to put her work in the spotlight.

Me: What was the initial assignment?

(Friend) Meg: The initial assignment was to create a website or a thoughtful project of a woman's issue pertaining to either the in the United States or other countries.

Me: Why did you specifically choose this issue?

Meg: As a survivor of sexual assault I felt this issue needs to be discussed more. Specifically, I wrote this website with my own parents in mind. I did it as though they were the ones looking for this guide.

Me: As you mentioned, you chose to target the parents rather than the survivors directly. What was the reasoning behind the viewpoint of the issue?

Meg: There's a lot of resources for survivors and their peers, but parents often have a different reaction to finding out their child was assaulted. They often feel angry with themselves and others. They don't have many other resources to look to when going through this, and can even become angry with the child, which is the opposite of what you should do in this situation since it can cause them to become re-traumatized.

Me: What do you hope to do with the website now that your project is finished?

Meg: I would love for actual people to actually use the website, a lot of hard work and self-reflection went into this website. I wrote about my journey so that many parents could find this website and facilitate their role as a parent in this situation of sexual assault. Stonehill gave me the choice of either publishing or deleting the website and I purposefully chose to publish it.

Me: How did it make you feel while working on this website?

Meg: It was very challenging. I had to reflect on what my own parents did right and wrong in my own situation. Obviously, not everyone's parents will react the same, so I had to make it broader to reach the audience. I felt like I'm in a place now where I can help other people and this was an important to project to undertake, but a lot of emotion was involved that people can easily see on the site.

Me: How do you feel now that the website is officially published?

Meg: I feel so proud of my website. It feels like my greatest accomplishment. I honestly feel like this could really help someone and that makes me happy. This isn't just a paper you turn in, it could actually influence someone's life, and that is really cool.

One student chose to make a difference out of a simple assignment. If you would like to visit this website and see the amazing job she did, you can do so here: http://mtryder.digstonehill.org/blog/