GAL Club aims to empower girls

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Girls across all grades are flocking to a new club highlighting female empowerment and comradery.

Girls at Lamar, also known as GAL, is a new club that aims for helping girls with all aspects of life ranging from educational opportunities to support on personal issues.

“We started the club in mid-September, and we have been functioning ever since the club fair,” said sophomore Aryana Mosaffa, who is the president of the club. “We originally had a hundred people sign up and we have around 40 active members with 20-30 who come for every meeting.”

This atmosphere appeals to many different girls across Lamar for differing reasons.

“I found it at the club fair, and I saw a lot of my friends signing up and I saw the sign ‘Girls supporting girls’ and I thought it might be a good opportunity to make some new friends,” sophomore Abby Seigle said. “I feel that we can all relate there so it’s a good way to talk to people.”

Creating GAL was a taxing process that required lots of hard work for all of the officers on the cabinet of the club.

“We went through a couple of different phases of creating the club, there’s been a lot of changes since the idea was first made and making it was pretty hard because it is a bit of a time commitment.” Mostaffa said.

The concept behind GAL is to make girls feel supported and have more opportunities than they typically would have access to.

“Initially it was just helping girls at Lamar with all aspects of life, but especially in the middle of the year it was really important for us to focus on providing opportunities as well as focusing on the social aspect of it,” Mostaffa said. “What we try to do is create a safe place for girls to talk about different things that are bothering them or what makes them happy.”

GAL, just like many other clubs here at Lamar, meets every other Wednesday. Wednesday’s are significant to the club, as it aligns with Woman Crush Wednesday.

“We meet starting at 4:15 and we go until 5, but sometimes meetings run a little longer. Usually times range between 4:15 and 5:30 and members are welcome to come and go whenever they need to,” Mosaffa said.

One other unique aspect of this club is one of the activities they do each meeting.

“One of the things we do is gather in a circle and we discuss what your biggest problem right now, you typically answer one or two simple questions like “What is your biggest scar and how did you get it?” or “What is your favorite TV show?” Mosaffa said. “We travel through the circle by each person telling what their biggest problem is at the moment.”

This activity is very relieving to some of the members of GAL and some even get emotional when taking their turn to share.

“It’s helped me to be more confident and open to talking to new people,” Seigle said. “And also, when we do the circle activity, it is interesting to hear about how everyone is doing and I think it gives you insight to what your peers are feeling.”

In hearing about all of the aspects of GAL a person might think that the club is very political or trying to make a statement, Mosaffa explains it is just the opposite of that.

“Girls at Lamar isn’t this huge political thing, it’s not associated with anything other than women. Women that are tall, short, black, white, feminine, not feminine, athletic, smart and more,” Mosaffa said. “We are trying to support the women in this school and encourage the girls at this school to rise up and be their best selves and I hope that we have provided that.”

Overall the goal of GAL is to continue gaining members and leave a lasting effect on life here at school.

“We also want to expand our activities and gain support from the school. We would love it if administrators, especially women of high power here at Lamar, came to talk to these young girls. I hope we can leave a legacy of helping girls,” Mosaffa said.