AIDS WALK

The 28^th annual AIDS Walk took place in West Hollywood on October 14, 2012. 30,000 people including Bell high students walked or volunteered to fundraise for HIV/AIDS patients.

The event started at 8:15 a.m for those that were going to walk, but for volunteers such as the Interact club and TAC, they were there at 5:40 a.m. There were celebrity performances during the opening ceremony, which included Norm Lewis, Dot Marie Jones, Daisy Fuentes, and the cast of Awkward.

" It's a great day for us to be here and there is lots of stigma that comes with AIDS and HIV virus and it's important especially our fans that are younger and even if they couldn't donate money to the cause, I was telling everyone to at least go to the website and check it out," said Jessica Lu form the cast of Awkward.

Lorena Colin a senior from Bell’s Take Action Campaign, when asked why she came to volunteer said, “It seemed like a fun idea and I like helping.”

60, 000 people have died of AIDS in the area of Los Angeles alone since the epidemic began. The 10k walk was no match for all the people that were walking for a loved one, friend or even just because they wanted to help the cause.

L.A is not the only city that has this event, but also New York, San Francisco, and San Diego. Craig R. Miller is the founder of the organization and since it started in 1948 it has become one of the largest fund-raising events in the nation. 

It was exciting doing this news story because I was there during the event taking note of what was happening. It did not feel like homework or something that I had to do, but a story that I wanted do. The hardest part of the story was getting the interview with Jessica Lu, but luckily I had a phone that could record the interview and refer to it if I needed too. Also, I was embarrassed to as Jessica Lu questions. For the most part I felt and was an actual reporter.