In past years, Women’s History Month has suffered from being commonly overlooked and uncelebrated, both from lack of awareness and exposure to the month and its ideologies. However, for the first time, this year’s Women’s Month was filled with many events hosted by the newly founded Women’s Empowerment Club. Throughout March, students were invited to attend activities after school related to supporting and celebrating women.

Some of the most notable events included the teacher’s luncheon, a speaking session with a domestic violence advocate, and a dance class. The club offered types of opportunities with different focuses like health and safety, service, and entertainment. Back in the fall, the Women’s Empowerment Club also hosted a self-defense class, which was well attended and taught students about preparing to keep themselves safe in potentially dangerous situations. 

The idea for the club started circulating all the way back in 2014 when some students approached Mrs. Ernenwein, the eventual moderator, and told her about an idea for a women’s unity group. While the club wasn’t able to kick off then, other affinity groups started to be established (such as ASU, BSU, and HOLA), and more students reached out about starting a club focusing on women’s empowerment, and the WEC was finally able to get off the ground during November.

When March rolled around, the Women’s Empowerment Club had already hosted a couple of successful events, so the members had planned a month-long list of ideas for the first celebration of Women’s History Month at Gibbons to showcase their new club. With the help of ideal timing, lots of attention was brought in because of their continual flow of meetings throughout the month. Recent interest and new members aided in informing students about the existence of the club and expanding their community. 

The goal of the WEC is to help bring together young women and to grow a supportive community among themselves. Many of the activities attempt to bring light to the confidence girls should feel and to create things that can remind them of the support that they have.

“I definitely feel more of a sense of community with the women of Gibbons, whether it be students or teachers. It’s a good place to talk to people with similar experiences as a girl without shame or discomfort. I think it makes all of us feel a lot safer and taken care of at Gibbons.” Sophie Naveda, one of the members of the WEC, said.

The club also serves as a space for women in our community to feel heard and know that their input has importance.

“What I want this to do for the Gibbons community is provide an outlet within a Catholic setting to feel empowered and feel like their voice has meaning and can be heard, and that they can impact change, hopefully through the Women’s Empowerment club or any other group in the school,” said Mrs. Ernenwein.

The Women’s Empowerment Club ended Women’s History Month with a party in the Student Lounge. The area was decorated with balloons and cake was served, and students came by to enjoy music and food and celebrate the end of the month and all the events held.

The WEC has plans to hold something bigger again next year, with the possibility of collaborating with other clubs. They also want to focus more on serving women in the community by holding more donations and providing services like free babysitting for single mothers and preparing meals for women’s shelters.

With so much potential and new events coming up, be on the lookout for future Women’s Empowerment Club meetings! The WEC is also open to any ideas, so if you are interested in suggesting something, make sure to contact Mrs. Ernenwein!

“If a student has an idea, or a connection with a community partner that they’ve already worked with, that they think would be a good connection with anything associated with making women’s lives better, then to reach out, because a lot of the stuff we’ve been doing is because a student said ‘what if we did blank?’” said Mrs. Ernenwein.