In this modern day and age where talks of empowerment and equal rights are all over the news and in our school hallways, a club entirely dedicated to conscious and serious discussions of these topics is something refreshing to have on campus. President of the Female Empowerment Club senior Kennon Lydick shares her purpose for this club, how it started and her views on why it is so important.

“The club was started by Shravia Ghuru. She’s a graduated senior who’s a freshman at Stanford now,” Kennon said. “She started this club because she was having a hard time with her self- body-image, and she felt rejected and not really what people wanted to see. She created the group as a support group to talk through some of the hard feelings she had.”

High school students often struggle with things like how they look and handling stress, according to Kennon. Knowing there is support out there can be very helpful.

“[Women Empowerment Club] really showed me that a lot of people were feeling the same way, and a lot of times we talk about these common, almost generic feelings that we have that are so widespread in the school,” Kennon said. “It kind of influenced me to realize that having a big group of people coming together to talk about important subjects could really be a positive impact for a lot of them.”

This club has been working to change its image and include everyone, not just women.

“There were always guys in the club when it first started, but I just feel like nowadays feminism can have such a negative connotation depending on how people take it,” Kennon said. “I really wanted to change that viewpoint, so along with that I think a necessary change was talking about equality for everyone and not just centered on women.”

The election creating a frenzy around us and many political topics kicking up dirt. Kennon says she thinks we should be able to get out of the shadow of our parents’ way of thinking, and this club helps with that.

“I think [Women Empowerment Club is] important because not only does it help us develop conversational skills that we can use later, but I think it helps all of us explore other viewpoints,” Kennon said. “I think a lot of times the opinions we adapt are those of our parents, and so being around other kids our age could give us more insight to what others are seeing and feeling and get out of how we were raised.”

At the moment, members of the club are working toward getting the name out there and destroying negative connotations that could stop someone from joining.

“Right now we are just trying to gain members and spread knowledge that our club does exist,” Kennon said. “I think we are at the primary stage right now — our goal isn’t necessarily to increase numbers, but increase knowledge that Women Empowerment Club exists, and that everyone is welcome.”

Women Empowerment Club is, according to Kennon, a place for everyone to come and discuss and feel happy and content when they leave.

“My favorite thing about this club is the feeling after you do something and talk about something that has real value and it’s that feeling of ‘I just did something good,’” Kennon said. “I feel like a lot of the discussions we have in our meetings leave me and I hope everyone else feeling like they just improved upon an idea they had or evaluated an idea and either changed a viewpoint or developed another one. Just developing those thoughts and ideas — that’s what I want people to feel and do during and after these meetings.”

Anyone interested in joining Women Empowerment Club can either contact Kennon Lydick or join the facebook group. Meetings are held about once a month in Ms. Crockers room, Room 357.