Young Women’s Leadership is off to a fantastic start with membership skyrocketing. Library doors are flooding with members, eager to be part of a group that has the determination to create change in our community. Claire Hanson, a senior, says, “ I think that the large numbers are going to be great this year for initiating change.” Over the last couple years enthusiasm has been kindled by a few girls, who were loud enough to fill the whole room. Now, the numbers quite literally fill up the whole room. Over 100 members come together in the Library on Tuesday during PIE time. However now, there are not just girls standing strong, but boys too. 

For the first time in York High School history, boys are participating in the club with a desire to support women and improve the community. Sam Jankovic, a freshman boy who initially joined to please his girlfriend, has taken a couple of meetings to find his place in the club. He is now a member of the politics subgroup of the club and explains “It is a very interesting and new environment and I am looking forward to working with all these amazing women this year.” The club is thrilled to have young men stepping up and out of their comfort zones to become leaders. President, Sage Collis, touches on this revolutionary change to the club’s population. “It’s about time that boys joined our club because these issues are as much ours as they are theirs,” she notes.

Due to the club’s high numbers, it is broken up into subgroups. Each group has its own goals and plans for change within the school, community, and beyond. These subgroups are as followed: 

• Period Products: fundraising and distributing tampons and pads throughout the school. The donations that the club receives are split between stocking school bathrooms and donating to local women’s shelters with a 40%-60% ratio respectively.
• Politics: creating change and organizing events around current gender disparities in political parties.
• Social Media and Conversation: running our Young Women’s Leadership Instagram, continuing women empowerment in the middle school, and breaking stigmas by creating conversations on sexual misconduct. 
• Support Group:  working on forming a support system for women in the school and those who may be affected by sexual misconduct. 
• Dress Code:  revising the school’s dress code so that is free of any gender-specific language 

Harper Howell, a Senior girl, describes her feelings about the club this year, “I am feeling very encouraged to see all these people interested in getting involved, especially young men. I am very excited about all that we are going to accomplish this year!” With a large number of passionate members and a hell of a lot to accomplish, this club has quite a productive year coming it’s way. To learn more about the group and keep up with their actions, follow the Young Women Leadership Instagram at yhs.ywl.