She’s The First Club hosted their first meeting in room B208 after school on Tuesday, Feb. 14.

She’s The First is a non-profit organization that aims to help girls all over the world get a better education and strives to create an equitable space for women to accomplish their goals. Over the past decade, She’s The First  has reached over 226,500 girls worldwide.

Naba Chaudhry, junior and co-president, was elected as an officer during her freshman year for She’s The First at Jasper. Unfortunately during her sophomore year, the club didn’t get approved and her experience as an officer was cut short.

“At Jasper there was a lot of paperwork, and in the end we couldn’t get the club to be approved,” Chaudhry said, “So I thought it’d be better to start fresh here at West. Thankfully the staff was very supportive and they helped us get through the process.”

Chaudhry utilizes her knowledge to help girls gain access to resources that allow them to create a better future for themselves.

“[She’s The First] is a club that is centered around girls all over the world, and focuses on the privileges we have here compared to other countries that don’t have the same privileges,” Chaudhry said. “We should be using our privileges to help those that can’t.”

Sarayu Bellary, 11, co-president, felt that the campus was lacking a big feminist organization and was quick to join Chaudhry in starting this new chapter of She’s The First. 

The first major issue that the club decided to tackle was the aftermath of earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6. The members made 30 posters encouraging students to donate feminine and personal hygiene products for the women in those countries.

“We had a lot of people show up to the first meeting where we made posters that we wanted to hang up around the school,” Bellary said, “We truly believe we can use this club to offer aid to people in that region who are suffering from the consequences of the earthquake, especially women who don’t have access to hygienic products that they need.” 

The club plans to use the items donated to make care packages for the women, so they can properly take care of their personal needs.

“We want to host a drive in which people can donate hygienic products, so that we can deliver them to organizations in Dallas that will give them to Syria and Turkey for us,” Bellary said.

She’s The First meets every other Tuesday in room B208, where they carry out the club’s goal to ensure that women are able to get access to the important things they need in order to be successful.

“I just hope people realize that we have so much privilege here, and there’s so much we can do to help through this club. I continue to hope that people can realize that we can use our privilege to help girls around the world get access to education and help that they deserve,” Bellary said.