NPHS Students for Social Justice strives towards equality
Inspired by multiple social movements during quarantine, a group of sophomores came together to start NPHS Students for Social Justice to both educate and promote the importance of activism among the community. Although the club has only been running for the past few months, members have a lot of hope and ideas for future events.
Brady Craven, sophomore, took the opportunity to become the president of this new group. Among the many possible areas of focus, the members took this as a chance to bring attention to the lack of diversity and work towards social issues at the school. “The goal of our club is to promote social justice, which includes racial equality, gender equality, LGBTQ+ equality and environmental justice,” Craven said.
As the club grows day by day, more students start finding their way toward the fight for social equity in our community. Ashley Neier, sophomore, is the publicist for the club and has been a big advocate for equality. “I think what really started to push [the idea for starting the club] over the edge was George Floyd and the protests that happened during COVID and I think it really inspired us to be like, ‘We should have something like this at our school,’” Neier said. “Personally, I want to focus on the discrimination of women, focusing on how people might think that people are equal, but in reality, women of color especially are greatly discriminated against.”
Over their past few meetings, they have set many goals that they would like to achieve once clubs are able to meet on campus. “Our main focuses right now are hopefully working with a school board to push for some more inclusive education and like a curriculum, such as more books written by Black and Brown authors for LGBTQ+ education,” Emily Kulhanek, sophomore and vice president, said.
The process of creating and building the club has been difficult. “It’s definitely a challenge to advertise and get people involved…we’ve also had a couple of Zoom bombers because people can hide behind a screen with a different name, and they said a lot of inappropriate things on our calls,” Kulhanek said. “It’s been a little messy with that, but just getting the right people to join and participate is one of our goals.”
From protests and fundraisers, to organizing and planning future events, the members of Students for Social Justice are excited for what issues their club will be able to help advocate for. “A goal of ours is to help spread awareness for social justice issues in our community through social media. By building that base and creating connections with our school board, we can make changes within our district,” Craven said.
