March was Women’s History Month, and AT had a fun event to celebrate its female-identifying students. The event was named S.H.E. Day, and it took place on March 22. The sponsor and founding member of the Beyond Club, Valarie Humphrey, created and led the event.
“We saw how well AACON went, and then we were excited to plan out S.H.E. Day,” said Humphrey.
Eighty-eight girls were in attendance at the event. In addition to the students there were ten staff members present; the superintendent, another representative from the district office, deans, teachers, etc.
S.H.E Day had a large emphasis on conversation-based activities. The conversations students mainly consisted of promoting positive ideas such as loving yourself, loving other people, trusting yourself, and learning to trust others.
“S.H.E. stands for support one another, honor each other, and evolve together,” said Humphrey.
A couple of other activities followed their conversations. A female student from Proviso East High School won an award from BET, which granted her the opportunity to create a script and film a mini-documentary. The mini-documentary was shown during the event as it undertook the topic of AIDs awareness but also related to a central theme of the event which was self-worth and deciding the best choices for yourself.
After the video was shown, the event moved on to a panel of questions.
“Everyone was given a card, and it was question cards. You could write down your question or the topic that you wanted, and it could be anonymous. We put them all in our clear box, then we pulled each card out and we answered the question,” said Humphrey.
There were all types of questions asked by students. The questions ranged from being about dating to preparing for college. In a well-crafted environment, the students were able to wind down and open themselves up to others, even if they were anonymous.
“So let’s say you wanted advice on dating, but you didn’t want to raise your hand and say ‘Okay I like this boy, but I am not sure if he likes me, how do I go about it?’ So, you could write it on a card, we pull it out, we read it, you get advice from the panel,” said Humphrey.
Overall, the event received great feedback from all who attended. Following the event there was a Google form posted to Humphrey’s Remind, asking S.H.E. Day participants for any feedback they had. The students buzzed about the anonymous card activity and suggested extending that portion of the event for the next time would be fun.
It is possible that the video portion of the event will be traded in for more card time, as it was impossible to get through all eighty-eight girls. Another change could be the location of the event, as the black box theatre capacity is 100 people, and eighty-eight girls and ten staff attended.
