Student-led Social Action Club Works for Change

The Social Action Club took action last school year through the COVID-19 hybrid schedule and gathered the wellness teachers, Ms. Smith and Mr. Tarleton to talk about the right terminology to use when talking about sexuality in the classroom. They discussed the right terms to use when referring to the LGBTQ community, and were surprised to find that the teachers had been using some of those terms already. They discussed this and other topics in their zoom meetings while social distancing last year. The zoom meetings were run by the students and they were the leaders through all of their actions. “Students lead the club and I just advise them and help them reach their goals,” Social Action Club Advisor Ms. Fountain says. She described how students were in charge. They were the ones who wanted to change the name of the club at the beginning. The original name was the Social Justice Club, but the students really wanted to express that they were taking action by switching the name to the Social Action Club. One of the first things they did was create their mission statement “A group dedicated to uplifting marginalized communities, fostering social justice and sparking change through education and action with our peers, teachers, administration and greater communities.” They also organized the WUHS Leadership Summit for Social Justice which will take place on Monday, September 27 at the Killington Grand Hotel. At the Summit, students will be looking into the research that some Dartmouth students did on race and racism in our school. Participants will be looking at a video that was put together about the interviews that they did about Racial Justice. This will be followed by looking over the proposed anti-racist policy. They will also play a game around equality and inclusivity. Last year this club was formed by a group of students from all different grade levels. Altogether there were 15 students involved in making changes. These students made a survey that was sent out to our school with a list of issues going on around us and got back 90 responses. The main ideas that they gathered from this led them to initially focus on five social justice issues: Women’s Rights, Racial Justice, Migrant Justice, LGBTQ+ Rights, and Climate Change.

“I've always been the kind of person that wants to fix things that no longer work in the way that they should,” Social Action Club President Morgan Myers said. She added that she’s been interested in politics and social issues for some years now which made her more interested in the club.

“I think that the biggest thing I learned is how complicated it all is. Even seemingly simple issues have so many different layers of impact to consider,” Morgan mentioned. “As a club, many of our conversations revolved around which changes to our community we could strive towards without causing the current systems to fall apart.”

Morgan was pleased to be a founding member of the Social Action Club “It was definitely a learning experience, and I'm super excited to get those conversations started again this year!”

For more information about the club, contact President Morgan Myers (22MyerMo@wcsu.net) or Ms. Fountain (MFountain@wcsu.net).