Moriah Arnold addresses a crowd of more than 100,000 people at  an anti-war rally in Washington, D.C.  as her stepfather, Mark Vanderwerf, looks on. (Courtesy photo)

A virtual storm of media attention has followed Moriah Arnold since she was chosen to speak at an anti-war rally in Washington, D.C., last Saturday, January 27. The rally, attended by more than 100,000 people, according to media reports, featured short speeches by celebrities and civic figures, including Jane Fonda, Susan Sarandon, and Jesse Jackson. Arnold, who was also chosen to speak by the rally’s sponsoring organization, United for Peace and Justice, lent her voice and point of view in a two-minute talk that has since garnered attention from Good Morning America, CNN, and C-Span.

Arnold, a sixth-grader at Bromfield, got her start in political activism only recently. Inspired by United for Peace and Justice, a coalition of more than 1,300 international and U.S.-based organizations opposed to war, Arnold circulated a petition opposing the Iraq war during lunch hour at Bromfield just two weeks ago. She collected more than 100 signatures on the petition, she said in an interview Wednesday, January 31, and submitted copies of it to Representative Marty Meehan and Senators John Kerry and Ted Kennedy. Her petition and her family’s intention to march in the Washington rally garnered a wealth of attention for her cause and have inspired her to continue her efforts to foster peace, Arnold said. She is now interested in exploring the possibility of working with the United Nations in one of its youth programs.

Giving the speech before such a large crowd was both the worst part and the best part of the whole experience, she said. “I was really nervous at the beginning, but then I used the energy from the crowd for the speech.” The speech was captured on video and can now be accessed on YouTube.com, she added.

Debra Vanderwerf, Arnold’s mother, has been busy supporting her daughter’s efforts throughout the past few weeks. Her husband, Mark, and Moriah’s brother, Max, were also on the podium to give moral support to their daughter, she said, and they all characterize the experience as a life-changing event. One of the best things to come out of it, she added, were all the positive emails they have received since Moriah took the podium. “So many of them said, ‘You’ve inspired my children,’ ” she said.