On alternate Fridays, Amador Valley High School’s very own Girl Up Club meet at the AV library. The club is an offshoot of the larger Girl Up Movement that operates out of 155 countries and 50 US states, focusing on equity for women and girls worldwide.
“We’re dedicated to female empowerment. The purpose [of the Girl Up organization] was to help women around the world struggling with discrimination and to empower them and give them the opportunities they deserve,” said Club President Tanvi Saxena (26).
About the Club
Girl Up was originally founded through the United Nations Foundation in 2010, with the purpose of supporting adolescent girls’ health, education, and safety. The club at Amador has four main focus groups, the first being education.
“We educate our club members on aspects of female discrimination. For example, today, we’re doing menstrual health stigma,” said Saxena.
Though the club focuses on the empowerment of women and girls, you don’t need to be a girl to join the club.
“In the future, we want to implement many volunteer opportunities [for club members] ,” said Vice President Deepika Suresh (26).
Saxena plans to introduce volunteer work at places like women’s shelters, which would help students attain their required number of volunteer hours for graduation while doing meaningful work by serving communities in need.
“At our last meeting, we were introducing volunteer opportunities around the Tri-Valley Area, and they were basically helping women in need, and providing’ them with food and nutrition,” said Saxena.
The Road Ahead
In the future, the club hopes to begin fundraising.
“We’d like to start donat[ing] to Girl Up. Girl Up has many different programs covering different aspects of women’s discrimination. [The money] would most likely go towards that,” said Saxena.
Finally, the club aims to get members involved in the Girl Up Organization and associated events. Girl Up has many campaigns that help connect girls to leadership opportunities, including internships or conferences girls can attend.
However, the club’s primary focus is to increase membership and spread awareness about the club on campus.
“I think people should join Girl Up because it’s a really fun club. It is an educational club, but we like to have fun every other week,” said Suresh.
To learn more about supporting and empowering women, check out their Instagram at@avhsgirlsupclub. If you’re interested, give the club a follow @avhsgirlupclub on Instagram, and attend their next meeting. Learn more about supporting and empowering women!
