A group of students sit in a classroom and are given the freedom to discuss whatever they want. They decide to focus on current events, specifically Columbus Day. They all talk about their views on the holiday and decide it isn’t fair to indigenous people. Then they decide to take it to the board of education. 

Activism Club is a student-lead club that allows for open discussion on any topic. It’s a place where students can feel safe discussing any opinion, no matter how political or controversial. While also encouraging them to act on it. 

Keira Loewe, a junior in Activism Club, stated, “I thought it’d be a good step towards becoming a better person and improving the community and certain issues I think are important and I like that it covers a wide aspect and you can have open discussions about it without it being a heated debate or anything. And we can take a step towards improving the world a little bit.”

Activism Club aims to empower students to be responsible critical thinkers in their community as well as encouraging awareness and actions that will lead to a more just world. 

The advisor of the club, Stacy Rockweiler said, “We want to empower students to make change in their world whether it be educating others or doing something to bring about change. And then obviously engage; and sometimes we, sometimes we just talk about topics but sometimes we try to find ways to get involved in topics.”

Recently, activism club members discussed their thoughts on Columbus Day and came to the decision that it should be called Indigenous Peoples Day instead. The club members then took action to help this happen.

At the meetings, the students were very passionate about the idea of not celebrating Columbus day after properly educating themselves on the history behind it. Rockweiler stated, “Through those conversations we had, we decided to then engage and we went to a school board meeting and we spoke during the public comment section, and the school board president discussed with Dr. McTague, our superintendent, to do some research on how would this look.”

The activism club has done a lot of other projects and activities in the past, like an international women’s day celebration. 

Senior and Activism Club co-president Tarleen Judge, said,“We’ve done a voter registration drive before the 2020 election. And we registered I think over 100 seniors just here and then we also collaborated with Woodstock, Crystal Lake, and a bunch of other schools.”

As these students meet to discuss their views, they aren’t just talking, they’re forming a plan. These students are finding ways that they can help better their community and the world around them.