Back to school, advocate-style: student clubs

It's strange to think about coming back to school, after all that's happened this summer.

But when my textbooks arrived in the mail, it hit me that a rhythm of Zoom classes is about to settle in, whether I'm ready or not.

If you felt at all called to action as I did over the summer, then that should absolutely continue, grow, and evolve throughout your life. It starts with the transition to the school year.

School clubs are a great way to plug into advocacy as a student. These groups are based in your school and run by fellow students, so they're more accessible than a lot of national advocacy organizations. Additionally, with a direct link to the school community you have a built-in network of people you can include in your advocacy, and show policymakers that you represent a subset of constituents with shared experiences (if you choose to lobby, that is-- there are so many potential advocacy activities besides that, too!)

Today, I'm giving an overview of the clubs I'm most active in at school and how they're a part of my advocacy. (Most of these pictures are from last year, so don't worry about the lack of masks or physical distance!)

UNICEF Club

Mission: To parallel the UNICEF mission to empower youth as effective global citizens and help the world's most vulnerable children. UNICEF Club will educate, advocate, and raise money to help at-risk children around the world.

Lobbying Senator Hawley's local staff (top left and top right) in support of vaccines and a framework to address violence against children

I'm super excited to be co-leading my school's UNICEF Club again this year with a group of smart, talented, and inspiring students. Last semester, we wrote letters to our Senators about a resolution to end violence against children. Then, three of the co-leaders met with two local Senate aides about that resolution and urged them to support Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

This semester, there's still so much that needs to be done to protect vulnerable children during the COVID-19 pandemic. As "Advocacy Lead," I have the chance to bring nonpartisan, federal advocacy to our meetings of middle school and high school students.

Sunrise Movement (school hub)

Mission: Together, we are working every day to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs through a just transition from fossil fuels. We support the Green New Deal and other aligned efforts on a local and national level.

One of our first activities last year, before COVID-19, was an art build!

Remember the Strike Circle from last year? This year, we're becoming a permanent "hub" for the Sunrise Movement at my school! Hubs are local chapters that do the most important work of the movement: organizing in our communities for climate justice (in whatever form is most effective and helpful in our area), and modeling a Green New Deal through our actions. This is a really exciting step, and I'm even more thrilled that we have four new hub coordinators from three different grade levels to take this on.

As a hub, we can establish a more permanent presence in our community and take on multiple projects at once-- not just one strike, or one political campaign to phonebank for. We can also grow and make opportunities for more young leaders in our school.

Extra Hands for ALS

Mission: To provide assistance to people living with ALS throughout the St. Louis area. While in the homes of patients, students perform household chores that are difficult for people living with ALS. The club also raises money to help fund ALS research and participates in community-wide events that raise ALS awareness.

Ayah (right) and I (left) sat in the hot sun to recruit at the student activities fair last year
(image credit: Allison Roberts)

This isn't a political advocacy club (although the ALS Association does nonpartisan federal advocacy) but I included it because I'm co-leading with my friend and I really love this club. I've been part of it since 7th grade, and Ayah and I became the new leaders in 10th grade.

We visit a family affected by ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting the brain and spinal cord, every month and help out around their home. You can read more about the impact of a single school club here.

"To me, Extra Hands is like a family. We’re really close with everyone we visit every month and I believe we create special bonds that won’t ever be forgotten. You don’t see them just as people impacted by ALS, but rather as friends who we like to spend time with. Overall, whenever we see the families it is very rewarding and it makes my day."- Ayah

Direct service is so important. While it's different that advocacy, of course, both have great value. I may never meet the people that my political advocacy helps, but in Extra Hands we get to build relationships, as Ayah explained. Plus, if you're involved in direct service it makes you a better advocate: more grounded in why we do this and what government policies mean for the people affected.

How will this club work during COVID-19? We're still figuring that out...

8th graders presenting our club at the activities fair last year (image credit: Margaret Bahe)

MUN Impact

Mission: To find currently-existing initiatives at our school and the outside community and connect them to the Sustainable Development Goals set forth by the UN.

One example of connecting local BLM protests to a long-term, global framework

Like UNICEF Club, I'm a co-leader this year and my specific role is Advocacy Lead. MUN Impact links the ever-popular Model United Nations student activity to real-world change-making.

This can be direct service, education and outreach, political advocacy, and more! There are 17 whole Sustainable Development Goals, from zero hunger, to life below water, to affordable and clean energy. The sky's the limit!

As an advocate, I keep an eye out for initiatives where a policy/political-action approach could be helpful, empowering, and/or necessary. But it's not the only thing I love about this club, or MUN in general. You can't help but be in awe of the variety and creativity of solutions when you have a diverse group of passionate young people-- even when we're on different continents, as MUN Impact is truly global (I met my pen-pal from Sri Lanka through the last Global Summit!).

As part of the Upper MUN team this year (a related student club), we're planning a conference for the Greater St. Louis area where students can debate local issues related to the SDGs the same way we would debate international issues. We have a vision to bring students together for this activity, build connections across neighborhoods, and even involve local government officials to have real-world impact. At least, that's the direction our brainstorming has taken so far. It's the early stages of planning, and I'm sure I'll write about it more later in the year!

Other clubs I want to join

For all the clubs I've mentioned so far, I've been involved with them for at least a couple years. But I'm a junior now, and there are still so many groups I want to join! Including...

RISE (Race Intersectionality with Socioeconomic Status)

Mission: To support discussion of issues relevant to the intersection of race and socioeconomic status, engaging in "revealing" activities that highlight inherent privilege, or lack thereof, by virtue of one's race of socioeconomic status.

Aim High

Mission (from the Aim High website): Aim High empowers motivated middle school students from high-risk environments to strengthen their character, self-confidence, determination, and initiative through a challenging, engaging academic and personal enrichment program.

The Aim High club at my school helps students get involved in volunteering with this amazing program. It's a beloved part of our school community and I was so excited to volunteer this summer, but didn't get the chance because of the pandemic.