Dakota High School’s Women’s Empowerment Club (WEC) is going into its second year of operation at our school. After starting last year, membership has only grown and lots of people are excited about its first meeting on September 20th in room 118. Despite membership numbers going up, a lot of students still aren’t aware of the club, what they do, and if it’s something that they might want to join. So, what is WEC? The Women’s Empowerment Club is focused on creating open dialogue about women’s hardships and running events for our community, all striving for the goal of gender-equality. It’s a discussion-based club, with its members discussing women’s issues not only in our school, but globally.  

They discuss things like dress code, wage-gaps, women’s representation in media, and many more topics. It’s not all discussion though- last year WEC put on many great events! This includes a giving tree for a women’s shelter where students can bring in gifts (like clothes, toiletries, and more) which are then donated to help those in need! They also had a presentation on domestic abuse awareness from Turning Point Macomb, a shelter in our community. All of this was finished off with an end-of-the-year field trip to the Detroit Institute of Art to view and celebrate artwork made by women. There’s a great article about the trip here.  

This year has many new things in store for WEC. The club plans on having a movie night fundraising events where students can buy tickets and spend a night watching a film on a big screen, talking with their friends, and eating popcorn! Another event is a domestic abuse awareness 5k in November! The club is constantly taking suggestions and ideas from their members and making those ideas into reality at our school. Anyone in the club can give suggestions about what to talk about, do, or take part in. 

And you can’t forget the club’s teacher-advisor, Mrs. Sarver. With her helping the executive board and monitoring the meeting, she can supply helpful and insightful comments to discussion, raise more questions to ponder, and help facilitate club events. And with a five-person executive board, the club meetings are well-planned and productive. I asked Mackenzie Patenaude, WEC’s vice-president about why students should join the club. She said, “WEC is a good way to feel involved in our school community, voice your opinions, and stand up for things you believe in”.

If you are a student at our school interested in feminist issues to any extent, you should join the Women’s Empowerment Club. Meetings are not mandatory once you’re a member, and students are just asked to come when they can! The club is a safe space for all people and all opinions. Women’s Empowerment Club is even getting honor cords this year for seniors to wear at graduation. If you are interested in becoming a member you can text @dakotawec to 81010 to join the Remind, follow the Instagram at dakotawec, or visit the website here.