Political Activism Clubs Plan Events for the School Year

Multiple student-led groups at the School promote political activism on local, state, and national levels. These student groups are beginning to meet regularly and form plans for the school year.

Seniors Audrey Andel and Mary McCabe are co-leading the School’s Bay Area Student Activists (BAStA) chapter. BAStA was founded in response to the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, and the organization now focuses on a wide range of social justice issues. 

Every spring, BAStA organizes a Lobby Day for Bay Area students to meet with lawmakers at the Sacramento State Capitol. In addition to fundraising for Lobby Day, BAStA is working on increasing vaccine awareness among teenagers through letter writing. 

BAStA is a nonpartisan group, but Andel states that the issues they focus on, such as “climate change, gun control, [and] women’s rights,…lean towards justice.” To get involved in BAStA, students can reach out to Andel or McCabe. 

Senior Caroline Gong’s Rhapsody for Youth (R4Y) also encourages political engagement. The nonprofit motivates younger students “to articulate their ideas and self-advocate for positive changes in their lives.” R4Y offers virtual classes on public speaking and writing skills.

Currently, R4Y is working with seventh to tenth-grade students from the School to create a newspaper. Gong holds after-school classes in which they write articles about current events.  She believes that in developing communication skills, students learn to advocate for issues they are passionate about. If students are interested in participating, they can contact Gong. 

Students who are interested in environmental justice can participate in the school’s Environmental Justice Initiative (EJI). Gulzar Attari, Bess Blackburn, and Romilly Thomson are the senior co-presidents of EJI, a club that focuses on “intersectionality’s impact on environmentalism.” 

Though EJI was primarily education-based for club members last school year, it will become more action-oriented this year. They plan to participate in climate marches, for example.  EJI hopes to collaborate with other environmental protection groups within the School, such as Surfrider, to organize beach cleanups. 

This month, EJI will center its meetings around local sustainability issues and indigenous sustainable practices in California. Students interested in the club can contact Blackburn.