December

girl up organizes fundraiser despite PANDEMIC obstacles

by REEM AZIZ

Opinions editor

Justice HS’s chapter of Girl Up has been a solid structure in the community and has demonstrated their drive to serve the community even during these difficult times. Although it is a challenging time to plan events, this club has been persevering through for the good of the community by continuing to organize fundraisers.

This fundraiser is a joint collaboration between Justice, Falls Church, and Langley High school’s respective Girl Up clubs. Each chapter of Girl Up will host their own Chipotle fundraising night. After each chapter has received the funds from Chipotle, the club with the most money raised will be crowned the winner.

This is the first time the Justice Girl Up club has coordinated a collaborative fundraiser and due to the pandemic, it has been a challenge to have effective communication between the schools. The approval process for fundraising this year has differed from previous years, making it more difficult to obtain full approval. However, the clubs have been meeting virtually via Google Meet and planning to market the fundraiser over social media.

All proceeds will be donated to Bringing Resources to Aid Women’s shelters (BRAWS). This non-profit organization provides many of the pads and tampons Girl Up uses to stock the Justice bathrooms with free sanitary products. Additionally, BRAWS has provided the products Girl Up has brought to the Bailey's Elementary School “Grab N Go'' sites, which began in March.

Girl Up continues to help those in need by providing menstrual products for the underprivileged in the community. Their partnership with BRAWS has allowed them to carry on distributing these products to students and community members that rely on them.

“BRAWS does so much for our community so we want to fundraise as a thank you for all their hard work,” said Girl Up president, senior Evie Garces-Foley.

The fundraiser is still in the approval process for the other chapters, but it likely to occur in late Jan. 2021. Their substantial social media presence has made accessing information for club members and the community easier. Additionally, they have communicated with the Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) to advertise the event, bringing attention to the fundraiser.

When asked about the importance of fundraising during this pandemic Girl Up historian and junior Makda Dejene, said “It is definitely more important to fundraise during this pandemic because of the increase of people losing their jobs and needing assistance. It's harder for them to get help during this pandemic when they need it the most, so we hope that fundraisers like this one really make an impact.”

national honor society plans paper editing service

by JAMIE O'DONNELL

Staff writer

With online learning in full swing and assignments piling up, it’s easy for students to get overwhelmed, especially when it comes to long assignments like essays. The National Honor Society (NHS) has established a paper editing service to help students with their writing skills during these difficult times.

The team of officers of NHS, including Linda Lauderdale, senior Renee Grutzik, senior Clara Whitney, senior Hieu Vu, and senior Andrew Tran, have been working extensively to perfect the operations of the service before its launch. “We thought it’d really provide extra assistance for students during COVID and especially those who need help with college apps,” said NHS treasurer Tran.

Many students have procrastinated with their college essays and have had trouble finding help or feedback. NHS hopes to make things easier for seniors in the middle of the application process as well as younger students who need help with in school essays. NHS members are well-qualified to help fellow students because of their reputation of academic excellence, honesty, and drive to better the community.

“In the National Honor Society we work very hard to ensure that nobody cheats. With that being said, we look for students that are good with grammar and can spot mistakes within pieces of writing rather than editing the substance of the articles themselves,” Tran said.

According to Tran, NHS is currently looking for more members to volunteer to help edit, but their services will be up and running by late January. At that point, students will be able to access the service by simply emailing NHS or filling out a Google Form with their requests. This service will soon be available to students. With the help of the National Honor Society’s paper editing service, the students of Justice HS are sure to see improvements in their essays!