Local musicians to play as part of benefit concert

Local students at Bloomington High School North show their support for domestic violence awareness with music at 7 p.m. Friday.

The BHSN Student Council sets up the annual concert that features local bands.

The event will take place in the BHSN Auditorium. Tickets are $7 and can be purchased at the door.

The concert benefits Middle Way House, a shelter that protects victims of domestic violence.

“All students from the community and other high schools are encouraged to attend,” BHSN junior Laura Honsig said in an announcement to Batchelor Middle School.
Honsig coordinated the event with little faculty assistance, BHSN receptionist Acacia Seitzinger said.

“This event was definitely student-run,” she said. “They have done most of the work for the concert themselves.”

Two of the bands performing at the event will be blues guitar duo the Sad Sam Blues Jam and rock band Xenosound. They will be taking the stage Friday night along with other local talents.

The concert is part of a larger effort in the school to raise awareness of domestic abuse and sexual violence. Students have participated in forums, taking self-defense classes and hanging paper cranes with positive messages around the school.

BHSN senior Haeun Cho, co-president of the student council, said the awareness events at the school have occurred for the past three weeks.

“It’s a campaign that will culminate in tomorrow’s concert,” she said. “We had forums that discussed what violent situations look like, especially during the teen years.”
Cho said the school also featured forums for males, attempting to help them realize their roles in such situations.

“We had a forum to learn how men can be allies to women that are facing domestic abuse,” she said.

Middle Way House believes that appropriate services to victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault can only be provided on a free and confidential basis, according to the organization’s website.

For the students at BHSN, aiding such an organization helps bring attention to issues surrounding domestic violence, Cho said.

“It isn’t always physical,” Cho said. “It can be manipulation and
controlling.”