By Alicia Kelso

The typical American teenager probably couldn’t tell you much about Uganda, let alone locate it on a map. But then, Ellie Hamrick is far from typical.

The Westerville North senior could go on for hours about the war-torn nation and subsequent displacement of its people. She precociously recites statistics off of the top of her head about casualties and treaties; she knows more facts about Uganda’s government than most 17-year-olds probably learn in American civics class.

Such vast knowledge is notable, but it’s Hamrick’s more tangible efforts that have drawn highest praise. Last year, she was selected as the winner of the second annual Fouse Award at Westerville’s Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast celebration, a recognition given to a student who has put the ideals of MLK Jr. into action.

Hamrick’s action began when she founded Westerville North’s chapter of Invisible Children, an organization devoted to raising awareness and funding for children affected by the now-23-year-long war in northern Uganda. The award was special to her not for personal recognition, but for the awareness it generated.

“That award really excited me because normally when I talk about the war in Uganda, people either don’t know anything or don’t seem to care. Or they’ll ask why I care so much when we have problems to solve here,” Hamrick says. “So, for the community to realize this work with this issue is important meant a lot to me. It is so important for us to pay attention and do something because all of us are in this together.”

Westerville North’s chapter is led by Hamrick, co-president Liz Sharp (also a senior) and faculty adviser/Spanish teacher Leroy Gilkey. Under their guidance, the chapter has seen membership reach as high as 60 students, has raised more than $3,000 last school year and is already at $2,200 so far this year. It has also gathered more than 1,000 petition signatures, sent numerous letters to Washington and collected more than 3,000 books for the Layibi Secondary School in Uganda, which has been burned and torn apart by conflict.

Hamrick has facilitated fundraisers – from a Battle of the Bands competition to plays to a dodge ball tournament – and has spread her message beyond the school, talking to church groups and middle schools and showing documentaries about the crisis. Her work seems tireless but her goal is simple.

“I just want to bring light to this war and these conditions. I want to get more people to sign petitions and pressure policymakers to step in and help, and I want to raise money for the schools over there,” Hamrick says. “It is such a catastrophe and the human rights violations are egregious, but it doesn’t seem to get that much attention here. I want to change that.”

Hamrick’s attention turned toward Uganda in 2005 after reading an article in National Geographic. She reacted so strongly to the story she decided to learn more. She attended an Amnesty International conference at The Ohio State University and heard a speaker’s first-person account on the war and how it has affected the country’s culture. She also learned at the conference about a student who started an Invisible Children chapter at Westerville Central High School.

“The article and the speaker put a human face on the conflict for me. When I heard there was a chapter at Central, I knew right away that was how I wanted to make a difference, too,” Hamrick says, adding that she turned to the group for advice on starting the chapter at her own school.

Invisible Children is hardly the only activity Hamrick devotes her time and passion to. She also is involved with the wildlife research class and mock trial; is editor of the school’s newspaper Odyssey; served as adviser of the school’s literary journal Horizons; sits on the Superintendents Advisory Council; and is the student representative on the school’s Improvement Psych Council.

She also works about 15 hours a week at Easton’s Panera Breads. When she does find free time, Hamrick spends it reading as much as she can about various human rights issues and stays involved in Amnesty International. Keeping busy with such interests is a no-brainer for her.

“When you learn, in retrospect, about these sorts of events in history – something like the Holocaust or Bosnia – you can say, ‘Why didn’t anyone do anything?’ If I have children, I want to be able to tell them I did something about this, that I did everything I could,” Hamrick says. “I never want to be able to tell anyone that I was too busy hanging out with my friends all of the time that I couldn’t do anything.”

Hamrick is currently fielding colleges for next year, having narrowed down her choices to Ohio University, Ohio Wesleyan University, Oberlin College and Kenyon College. As far as she knows, OU is the only school with an Invisible Children chapter, although she hasn’t ruled out starting one from scratch while balancing it with her coursework.

“The more I learn and the more I do for this issue, the more I want to keep doing it. I don’t think there is any way I can get complacent with this,” Hamrick says. “I can’t understand anyone listening to these stories without wanting to do something and be a part of helping. We’re all part of one big human family.”

Alicia Kelso is editor of Westerville Magazine.


Central and North’s chapters have since worked together, combining book collections and sharing ideas. There are other I.C. chapters in Central Ohio, including at OSU and in New Albany. For more information, visit www.invisiblechildren.com.