May 8, 2024

The Fort Island elementary school library buzzed with anticipation as the door swung open, revealing a group of high school students marching in with purpose. Their confidence and friendly demeanor immediately caught the attention of the young students, who watched with wide, curious eyes as the teens took their places at the front of the room. 

“Happy Women’s History Month, everyone,” senior Carrie Keibler said. “I’m the president of Girl Up.” 

Keibler led Girl Up, a women’s empowerment club at CHS, to visit the district’s elementary schools in order to share information about women’s history. Keibler, the elementary school librarians and high school staff advisor Sarah Janiga worked together to create an Amazon Wish List of children’s literature titles featuring strong female protagonists or inspiring women in history. Generous donations from Copley students, staff and community members provided over 75 brand-new books for the libraries at Fort Island, Arrowhead, and Herberich. Books in hand, the Girl Up students visited the Fort Island and Arrowhead libraries to read to the students and share information about their club. 

“The kids really enjoyed our reading time,” Keibler said. “They loved learning about how powerful these women have been for our world. They loved talking about women in their lives who inspire them. Some kids talked about moms and sisters, others talked about teachers and some talked about celebrities. I teared up a little because you could tell how excited they were. It was such an amazing experience.” 

Girl Up is a club that empowers and raises awareness about womens’ issues—especially issues of equity and spaces where girls and women are unheard or underrepresented. At Copley, the club has made a noticeable impact on school culture. During the 2022-2023 school year, Girl Up collected donations in order to provide free menstrual products in the restrooms. Members also collected menstrual products to donate to a local womens’ shelter. Additionally, Girl Up worked to promote body positivity by hanging posters with empowering messages in the restrooms.

It wasn’t long before club members decided to expand their reach to Copley’s younger students.

In addition to the womens’ history readings at the elementary schools, the club helped Copley-Fairlawn Middle School students to create their middle school Girl Up. Senior Jasmin Johnson, who serves as the Middle School Director for the new Girl Up CFMS, believes that young girls deserve just as much support as their high school counterparts.

“I was talking to a middle schooler about Girl Up as she was interested in joining after her eighth grade year,” Johnson said. “We realized that the middle school should have something that supports women.”

Middle school Girl Up president Misha Reyes Leff and vice president Anh Dang organized a period product drive modeled after the high school group’s work. They gathered donations of menstrual products from teachers and distributed them in the school restrooms.

Johnson, who is about to graduate, hopes Girl Up CFMS continues on for years to come.

“I hope to recruit more people for the middle and high school,” Johnson said. “It’s important to grow the group. Next year I aim to have the current eighth graders help me run the club. I plan to attend the first couple of meetings of the following year, even though I will be in college.”

Girl Up isn’t the only high school club to reach out to younger students. Copley’s Black Student Union (BSU) has also been working to build relationships at the middle school. During Black History Month, members of the BSU, including junior Vice President Taylor Williams, visited CFMS with the dual goals of introducing themselves and pushing for a middle school BSU.

“The Middle Schoolers are the future of BSU,” Williams said. “We want to build a strong foundation and help them achieve a sense of awareness at the middle school.” 

During their visit, BSU representatives interacted with all grades in the middle school and found that the middle school students were strongly engaged. Williams hopes this sense of engagement builds a legacy for both schools.

“I [hope] that Copley’s BSU will grow to be a club where all students want to join and spread awareness regarding black culture,” Williams said. “[We intend to make] Black History Month the best it can be with activities that the whole school—and, in the future, the whole district—can participate in. I hope that more activities will be planned, not just in February, but year-round. It is game-changing, and [much needed] in a predominantly white school. It gives black students a spotlight through education and fun.”

The establishment of Girl Up and the Black Student Union chapters at the elementary schools and the middle school is an unprecedented partnership that the club leaders hope will make a profound impact on students during crucial stages of their development. 

Both groups hope to provide a platform for empowerment, advocacy and cultural appreciation. They intend to nurture the leadership skills, sense of belonging and values of inclusivity and social responsibility in young minds. It may take years of hard work, but the clubs believe that the seeds of change they plant will flourish in time, creating a brighter and more inclusive future for all of the district’s students.