By: Isaac Villegas, Staff Writer
The E in “Poly PRIDE” stands for Extraordinary, and Poly’s newly founded Women’s Equity Club encompasses everything about that and more.
Born from a mix of passionate ideas and strong determination, the Women’s Equity Club is one of the newest clubs at Poly High School that serves as a safe space to bring awareness to both current and historical women’s issues among many other feminist topics. Its very first official appearance was at this year’s club rush on Tuesday, August 26 and Wednesday, August 27. Despite it being new to Poly, the club seemed to attract a ton of attention from students, as many of them crowded the booth to sign themselves up during both lunches and left with a complimentary sticker or candy of their choice.
Caroline Dallarda (12), founder and president of the Women’s Equity Club, says that she wants this club to not only have a significant meaning to Poly students but to the Riverside community as a whole, too. “We’re trying to bring awareness in Poly while trying to help outside of Poly,” she stated. She explained how she hoped for the club to be able to reach out to organizations outside of the school that would help support their mission in uplifting young women.
Because Dallarda has so many wonderful ideas for this new club, it is almost impossible for it to stick to one main objective, making the Women’s Equity Club unique from other student-run organizations in the sense that they plan to spark inspiration in students by tackling as many topics regarding feminism that there is to cover. Mrs Dubuisson, advisor of the Women’s Equity club, explains that they plan to educate others by “going as far back as the 1850’s and […] all the way through the twentieth century and continuing.” With such a long and rich history worldwide, it is certain that club members will benefit from learning something new by having a brand new takeaway on the world around them after every meeting.
While the Women’s Equity Club has made its grand debut at Poly this year, there have been a few similarities pointed out between the Women’s Equity Club and the Vindication Club. Although both of their objectives align with each other, co-founder and vice president of the Women’s Equity Club, Rachel Haynes (12), assures that there are also many key differences that set these two clubs apart. She clarifies that while both organizations strive to promote feminism; the Women’s Equity Club has a greater focus on the history of women’s rights and other related issues. Despite this, however, Haynes also adds that the Women’s Equity Club still “plans on teaming up with them at some point in the year because of [their] similar issue, because girls support girls!” and she believes that those who join Women’s Equity Club should also take a look at the Vindication Club given their similarities.
It is still very early in the school year and excitement is brewing on what the Women’s Equity club will become as time progresses. With the great minds of Dallarda and Haynes and the total support from Mrs Dubuisson and many others across campus, it is without a doubt that this club will become big at Poly High School and influence the minds of many to fight for women’s rights and uplift everyone.
Poly Bears, prepare for a positive and extraordinary change in our community.