Two new clubs in the high school are dedicated to supporting marginalized students in academic fields.
Women in Leadership and Representing the Underrepresented in Science are clubs that want to increase representation at U-High. Club founders noticed a lack of diversity in their fields of interest and have now set out to make U-High more diverse and inclusive.
Women in Leadership, created by Saanika Dutta and Illana Schopin, is a club that will support and promote women in positions of authority.
Saanika said the goal of the club is to, “foster an environment where a lot of girls at U-High can support each other, push each other to become leaders, and push each other to be more out there to lessen the divide that you see in leadership positions between men and women, even at U-High.”
This year, club leaders plan to host accomplished women as speakers. The club leaders would especially like to have a young adult speaker panel, so the club members can relate more to the women and see themselves in them.
They meet every other Tuesday during lunch in room N-301.
Representing the Underrepresented in Science, or RU Science, is a club committed to increasing representation of people of color in scientific fields, and specifically to represent them in advanced science courses. Juliana Walker, Danny Baeza and Joshua Carter founded the club.
“We want to make sure that everyone feels heard and everyone feels supported and encouraged no matter what they’re doing,” Juliana said. “We want students to see other students of color and other students of underrepresented groups in their courses and make it feel like it is OK.”
RU Science leaders not only plan to have guest speakers, but they also want to connect with affinity groups in other divisions at Lab to encourage the younger students to engage in and pursue science.
They meet every other Friday during lunch in room C-323.
