Women’s History Month, founded in 1987, occurs every March to celebrate women’s rights, activists and innovation. But before Women’s History Month was founded,, a week-long celebration called Women’s History Week running through March 8th — International Women’s Day — was created by the Educational Task Force of Sonoma, Calif. This tradition soon spread to other school districts, where special programs, such as guest speakers, were implemented to educate children about women’s history — eventually developing into the month-long, national celebration celebrated now. 

Today, schools continue to honor Women’s History Month through similar events with guest speakers and discussions, fostering awareness and appreciation within their communities. At West High, Women’s History Month is celebrated by various clubs, some of them women-centered, focusing on topics like feminism, STEM and everyday discussion. These spaces share goals of creating a place where female students can find and build a sense of community and belonging. Here are five of West High’s clubs, for and by women:

Feminist Club

Feminist Club is an activism-based club focused on feminism and equality in and around West High. Feminist club co-president and senior Risa Cidoni has been part of the club since her freshman year of high school. Passionate in a pursuit of equality, Cidoni became co-president in her junior year.

“The purpose of Feminist Club is to promote equality at our school and in the community.  We focus on gender inequalities, talk about the problems that women face, lead different projects to try to help out the marginalized female community and spread the word about feminism,” Cidoni said.

Unlike other clubs at the school, Feminist Club isn’t exclusively for women. The club makes an effort to try and recruit members of all backgrounds, no matter what gender, due to Feminist Club’s emphasis on equality for all. 

“One thing we try to do for Feminist Club is make sure that we don’t make it only for women. We want to make it something that is open to everybody because there’s a lot of misconceptions about feminism. The true meaning of feminism, it’s just gender equality,” Cidoni said.

Feminist Club has been part of West High’s atmosphere for a decade. The club often recruits members during events such as Curriculum Night and Red and Blue Night where clubs and sports are showcased, which is how Cidoni was inspired to join.

“In my freshman year, I went to Red and Blue night, and [Feminist Club] was giving out stickers. They were raising money for some organization [in the] area, and I thought it was really inspiring that they were making the change and helping people in the area, so I wanted to join.  It was my favorite club that I was in since freshman year because it’s just a super great, positive community,” Cidoni said.

Cidoni describes Feminist Club as not only a space for activism but also a space for community. With many members, Feminist Club fostered a place for students to meet new people who share interests in gender equality.

“We do a lot of discussion and education, but then we also do anti-stress meetings every other meeting. We color, talk about some women’s rights topic, have food [and] have a good time. It makes it more of a community of people that like to talk to each other and have fun. [We have] a good balance between education and camaraderie,” Cidoni said.

Reach out to sponsor Lara Boles in order to join.

Women of West 

Not to be confused with Feminist Club, though they both host discussions about women, Women of West operates as more of a community and discussion space than an activism club. The club, which had existed since 2013 before it had stopped during the 2023 and 2024 school years due to a lack of leadership, was revived by president and senior Noor Mahmud. 

“I wanted to create another space where people could come and it wouldn’t be as busy or crowded, and we could have smaller discussions. I feel pretty passionately about having a space to talk to other girls about what we go through,” Mahmud said.

Although the club isn’t necessarily about activism, Mahmud emphasizes that the club’s purpose is empowerment. That empowerment can then be the source of future activism.

“The purpose of Women of West is to empower everyone’s voices and to create a community at school where girls, and not just girls, but guys, anybody, feels safe to come and to learn about different things we go through at school, [in ]our community and [in] our everyday lives. It’s just a calm, peaceful space,” Mahmud said.

The club hopes to be a space where women with similar interests and thoughts can come together. Primarily girls who are interested in seeking a smaller discussion space, a community. 

“It’s important [to create spaces for women] because a lot of experiences are unique to us, and it can be hard to get empathy from people who haven’t gone through similar experiences as you. So that’s why I feel it’s important to have clubs like Women of West,” Mahmud said.

Reach out to sponsor Kristi Ponder in order to join.

Women in STEM 

The lack of female spaces for women to learn about STEM has always concerned Women in STEM co-president and senior Arushi Agrawal. Her experience with feeling a lack of belonging in majority male spaces led her to thinking about how she could solve this problem. Agrawal’s mission to create a space for  female students interested in STEM began with her creating the club Women in STEM. 

“Our club’s purpose is to encourage other females that are interested in STEM to pursue it. We introduce all kinds of STEM jobs and careers for our club members to explore. A lot of the time in other STEM clubs, it’s mostly guys, which can be intimidating — so we created a space specifically for women,” Agrawal said.

Agrawal’s purposefully made theclub centered around women so that she and other female classmates could have a shared sense of belonging while discussing STEM topics.

“It’s important to create spaces just for women because it’s intimidating to be in a majority-male space for some girls. For example, in computer science clubs last year, like Cybersecurity [Club], there weren’t many girls. I know so many girls that are interested in computer science, so we decided to create a space exclusively for women to encourage girls to share their voice, ideas and have fun,” Agrawal said.

The club, which initially started as a joke between Agrawal and co-president and senior Bhavya Gupta, turned into a real opportunity. Soon enough, they approached Physics teacher Alison Dwyer to sponsor their club. 

“We slept on it, and [decided] this actually could be something that we could do. It was really random, but an idea meaningful to us,” Agrawal said.

Last year, for Women’s History Month, the club hosted a meeting For Women’s History Month to do a slime activity. The club presented this activity at Mason Ridge STEM night to introduce elementary school children to STEM topics in a simple way, and it plans to contribute furtherit plans to contribute further to the month with different activities this year.

“We have a couple ideas; [our meeting this year will] probably [focus on] trailblazing women in STEM throughout history, to honor and remember these women for their contributions to STEM and inform our members about these prolific women,” Agarwal said. 

Reach out to sponsor Alison Dwyer in order to join.

Women in Healthcare

Women in Healthcare is a national organization committed to providing women in the healthcare industry with resources, education, contacts and services. Co-President and sophomore Farrin Rahman created West High’s chapter last year with two other classmates to spark interest in healthcare careers for female students.

“We wanted to represent women and talk about the disparities faced by women in the healthcare field. The other co-presidents and I have a passion for the healthcare field and are all women, so we decided to create this club. We talk about issues like wage gaps and stereotypes, as the industry isn’t necessarily equal for women and men. We wanted to inform and educate people on the disparities and how we can prevent that from happening in the future,” Rahman said.                     

The Women in Healthcare club created one of the many spaces exclusively for girls at West High to learn, discuss and educate on academic topics.

“We wanted to create a safe space for girls who are interested in the medical field, as sometimes girls are [afraid] to join competitive club spaces with boys. It was also to be more unifying as a community; there are many medical-based clubs at West High, and I thought that one specifically for women would have more appeal to girls. We just want to educate, uplift and empower women interested in the healthcare field,” Rahman said. 

Rahman was inspired to create this club due to her own interest in healthcare and the women in her life. 

“I was deeply inspired by my mom, who is a nurse. She motivates and encourages me a lot whenever I’m pursuing something that I’m passionate about. I’ve been thinking about going into the medical field since freshman year, so building this community with my other co-presidents has been a step closer to my dreams of becoming a doctor,” Rahman said.

Reach out to club sponsor Jen Skalski in order to join.

Muslim Women’s Society

For women looking for spaces to connect, the Muslim Women’s Society offers a calm and inclusive environment. While rooted in Muslim identity, the club is open to all students, regardless of faith.

“The purpose of Muslim Women’s Society is to bring the women at West High closer. Girls are encouraged to come to our meetings, whether they’re Muslim or not. My non-Muslim friends come and support us, and they have a great time,” co-president and sophomore Ajla Jakupovic said. “We have a presentation at the beginning, then enjoy snacks along with fun activities like painting. We want every woman to feel welcomed.” 

Beyond discussions about religion, the club is a place for bonding, making new friends and building a sense of community.

“My friends and I were thinking of making a club because we wanted something to bring us all closer,” Jakupovic said. “We bring a lot of snacks for all the girls, and we just laugh and talk the entire time.”

The club also provides a space for deeper conversations about the experiences of Muslim women and the importance of representation. Conversations like these work to encourage empathy and understanding between women of different backgrounds at West High.

“The life and the experiences that influence Muslim women on a day-to-day basis—that’s what we want to focus on. It’s important because we get to share our feelings and thoughts without interruptions from men. The Muslim women’s community is strong, whether around the world or within our own school. My mom, my sisters, my cousins—every Muslim woman in my life has inspired me to start this club,” co-president and sophomore Yara Abukanan said.

Reach out to club sponsor Kristi Struckhoff in order to join.