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Westford Academy students took part in a presentation on sexual assault awareness on March 28 along with four professionals experienced in helping victims of sexual assault.
The “Time’s Up” event was sponsored by the town’s Health Department, Westford Against Substance Abuse and the Westford Coalition for Non-violence.
An episode of Law and Order, Special Victim’s Unit was shown during the first half of the evening. The episode entitled “No Good Reason,” was projected on a screen inside Westford Academy’s Performing Arts Center in advance of Sexual Assault Month, which begins April 1.
The idea began when Ray Peachey, substance abuse prevention coordinator for the town, saw the episode and reached out to Public Health Nurse Gail Johnson to build a program around it.
“I wish all the high schools would hold a program like this,” he said.
The episode tells the story of a 10th-grade girl who engages in substance abuse at a small gathering inside a private home. One of her male friends takes advantage of her lack of awareness and is ultimately charged with rape.
The program peels back layers of cultural practices to define and illustrate how sex without consent can be a crime.
Members of the Westford Academy Theater Arts group performed a short skit that capped off the television show. A series of speakers provided resource information. They were Det. Nirisa Nicoletti of the Westford Police Department, Deborah Perry, Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner at the state Department of Public Health, Sue Hanly, Westford School nurse, and Kathy McCarthy, LICSW.
