Equity Club: Misrepresented and misunderstood

With the start of the school year comes the beginning of a fresh new year of Equity club. Equity club had their first meeting of the year in Mr. Simmons classroom two weeks ago on Thursday, September 4th. The meeting was led by the brand new president, Freya Dronen.

The meeting opened with Freya talking about the club’s goals for the year. She and Mr. Simmons, the club’s advisor, both stated that they want to be as active this year as possible. They agreed that they want to partake in events from previous years and many more. 

They plan on collaborating with other clubs such as Nuestra Comunidad like they have before for even more events and fundraisers. They held a movie night last year with Nuestra Comunidad in which they provided snacks and drinks and anyone was welcome to watch “The Book of Life” in the High School community center.

The events are great places to be, but so is Equity club itself. Equity club, as stated by Mr. Simmons, is “… a club for all people, whatever their cultural background, racial background, financial background is, their personal beliefs, all of that stuff is kind of what I want people to understand is that the club is open to accepting everyone.” He then went on to say, “We don’t have any judgements of people. We don’t have any preconceived ideas.”

Equity Club is truly a place where absolutely anyone can go to feel included. The meetings are a safe space for everyone, whether they’re in the club or not. However, there is a lot of speculation about this club from onlookers that think it’s just for a specific group of people, though that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Many assume that Equity club is specifically to support members of the LGBTQ+ community. While the club does value the orientation of all students, they also support other events including any heritage month or awareness month of any kind. They try to do as much as possible to spread a message of inclusivity for any group or community. The club began as an idea from several students who were discussing their loneliness and isolation from the majority of Cashmere High School. Their conversation caught the interest of teacher, and current club advisor, Mr. Simmons, who wanted to help provide a sense of community and belonging, not just for them, but for any students who felt that they needed it. “It’s kind of like the belief that everyone should be seen as people,” stated Vaness Cornelio, senior, when speaking about what the club means to her.

When asked about how they think the club is seen by the community, Freya and Vanessa said that the stigma surrounding the club might prevent some students from joining. When the club was awaiting approval of the school board, even the school board members were reluctant to see beyond the label attached to it.

“I remember joining freshman year when there was the, like, not like big fight, but I remember being at the meeting where Mr. MacKenzie and I think Dylan Nicholas and Audrey were really, like, going at it about the posters.” Freya stated when asked why she joined the club. She said that as a freshman and being new to the high school and it being a new club she didn’t really know anything about it, but, seeing that interaction, made her interested in their goal; to create a safe and inclusive space for all students.

In spite of the rumors or assumptions about the goals or purpose of the Equity Club, it had many students in attendance at the first meeting. Club leaders hope these numbers will grow more and more students see this club as a place to belong.