A screening today of the documentary “Strong Enough to Break” can answer any students’ questions of what happened to ’90s pop music juggernaut Hanson.

The Public Relations Student Society of America is sponsoring the free event, which will take place at 7 p.m. in the Charles V. Park Library Auditorium.

“I want to spread as much awareness as I can about what Hanson is doing,” said Steevy Griffin, Hanson PR campaign chair and Swartz Creek junior.

The documentary illustrates the hardships of the professional recording industry, highlighting the band’s perseverance, Griffin said. It covers Hanson’s journey between 2000 and 2004, when it broke from its major record label and formed its own.

Griffin said Hanson is more than just a shallow, flat boy band.

Hanson’s involvement in Africa began in July 2006, when the group visited South Africa to gauge the severity of the AIDS crisis.

“The watershed moment that sparked our journey to Africa came when friends of ours from a Tulsa (Okla.) medical firm were donating technology to a South African hospital to help fight the spread of HIV/AIDS,” Isaac Hanson said in the band’s MySpace.com profile. “We were so moved by their example that we were compelled to take action.”

As a result, the band recorded the song “The Great Divide,” which features an African choir. All proceeds from the song’s iTunes sales have gone to aid a South African hospital.

In addition to the documentary, the music video for “The Great Divide,” which features clips from Africa, will be shown at the screening.

Since the group’s trip, Hanson has raised more than $10,000 for the South African hospital, said Kevin Snyder of 3 Car Garage Records, Hanson’s independent label.

“It’s just a real life, this is what’s going on in the music industry,” Snyder said.

Griffin said she has closely followed the band since its debut when she was in middle school, and she matured as the group did.

“The lyrics of their music have grown with me,” she said. “It’s just great to see where they’ve come so far.”

A donation of at least $1 to a hospital in Africa at the screening will enter attendees in a drawing for a free iPod.

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