Back and better than ever

Club aims to empower women

Feminism Club plans fundraiser to combat the impact of domestic violence against women

By Jakob Nacanaynay

Feminism club meets every Wednesday after school aiming to empower women and act as a safe space to discuss issues relating to feminism.

Feminism club has a four-person leadership team headed by the president Angeli Angeles. The two advisors of the club are teachers Carla Rosebrook who overlooks the club on the first and third week of each month in room 132 and Abby Taylor who watches over the club on the second and fourth weeks of each month in room 102.

New members can expect to be involved in discussions as well as a variety of activities. Two previous activities were signing petitions and a tea party. While the leadership team helps manage the club, members are involved in brainstorming and deciding on what the club does.

“We started off just talking about what feminism means because it’s a broad topic that’s subjective and it literally changes everyday,” club president Angeles said. “Now we’re talking about things like coming out as a man. Especially with things like misogyny; as a man there are different obstacles that we wouldn’t understand.”

Though there are set topics, members are free to talk openly. “We make sure every member’s voice gets heard,” vice president Ali Serena-Takahashi said. “Let’s say someone wants a certain discussion topic, we have that available to them.”

Feminism, for both the club president Angeles and vice president SerenaTakahashi, while expansive, boils down to empowering women and being supportive. However, misconceptions about feminism have been

challenging.

“I used to have some friends who didn’t believe in feminism or they thought it was asking for too much, so starting the club was pretty hard because my close-knit friend group wasn’t really supportive of it,” Angeles said.

Leaders hope that with the feminism club, they can combat the stereotypes and misconceptions around feminism.

“I love the people [who come to feminism club],” Angeles said. “They’re not just sweet but they’re open minded. At school, you see a lot of people who aren’t open minded to the idea of feminism, and not even just the idea of feminism but they’re not even open minded enough to hear the full message, so I think it’s beautiful some people come and actually see what the club’s about”

The feminism club also plans to fundraise for New Beginnings, an organization based in Seattle that spreads awareness about domestic violence and provides services for survivors.

Outreach programs include educational and prevention training, Services include one on one support, paying for housing, utilities, food, medical assistance and legal assistance.

People interested in feminism club can ask the leadership any additional questions. Feminism club also has an Instagram account which can be messaged.

“Every member here always has something to contribute whether it is a discussion or even a reaction to something that has been said,” vice president Serena-Takahashi said. “Every member here really gives it their all when it comes to this club and I’m really thankful for that.” H

NICO FRANCOIS | HAWKEYE

MUSIC GROUPS ARE BACK TO SPREAD SOME HOLIDAY CHEER

By Kaylee Miyamoto

It’s been over a year since MTHS’s last live, fully open to an audience band concert, let alone jazz or any other music class. Because of COVID, it was unsafe for students or families to congregate for any reason last year, so performances couldn’t be held in-person. However, all of that changed on Nov. 10 when the first jazz concert of the year was held. Following suit this month, the choir and orchestra had a combined concert, and the concert band has one planned for Dec. 16.

For the school’s first concert in a year and a half, instrumental music director Darin Faul worked with Jazz 1 and Jazz 2, rehearsing in class for weeks to eventually perform in the theater. With a program of nine songs and two combined performances from Jazz 1 and 2, the audience responded with constant enthusiastic applause.

All of these students, spanning from new freshmen to more experienced seniors, have had to play on their own over remote learning, depriving them of the teamwork and feeling of being part of a whole that comes with being in band. While many students were able to have the comfort of playing without anyone watching, there was a serious lack of motivation from not being able to play with others and not being held accountable if they didn’t play. Jazz especially takes a significant amount of work from individuals to come together and make something beautiful with unity and teamwork. Being back in-person means that motivation and sense of togetherness is back, and that was evident in the way the jazz students performed. This concert also acts as a preview for what’s to come from the band program this year.

Faul said he hopes everyone that attended had a good time, especially the students themselves as they become inspired playing for others and sharing their music.

Many of the students performing haven’t played live since they were in middle school, and even if they did play in high school before schools were shut down in March of 2020, being back was still a big adjustment. Regardless, all of the students gave their all and performed wonderfully.

The concert program, along with naming all of the students that played in each section and song, had “Jazz Night 1” written with the word “thankful” underneath it. Through just a few words, it showed that this is just the beginning of band concerts this year that families and students can look forward to.

Along with that, it’s a concert we should be thankful for, not only because of the holiday season, but because it represents an opportunity that’s been stripped from us over the past year and a half.

“It’s easy to think about the things we lost, but in spite of that, I’m thankful we got to do it at all,” Faul said.

With all these concerts, whether band or choir and orchestra, it was a challenge for the school to ensure safety for those attending, resulting in students being limited to only inviting small groups of family members. Families also had to sign up for seats beforehand, specifying who would come and where in the theater they’d be sitting. This was so that in the event that contract tracing was needed, there would be a clear seating chart.

“In regards to the challenges in planning these events, the problem is, what we are used to doing is maxing out concerts. Right now we only have space for family and performers,” Faul said. “Each student is allowed to invite six people in a group to sit together, and have that group socially distanced from others. All guests were required to wear masks watching the concerts.”

The MTHS orchestra and choir also held their annual winter concert on Dec. 9 in the theater, having the same peculiar circumstance as the jazz students with it being the students’ first concert in over a year. The next concert for the jazz band as well as the entire concert band takes place on Dec. 16, right before the start of winter break.

The upcoming band concert is set to be split into two separate parts to account for COVID safety regulations, ensuring families and any other guests can watch the performance safely. The night will start with concert band, encompassing symphonic band, chamber winds, and percussion ensemble, playing in the theater. The music selection will include both holiday classics as well as other winter-themed songs.

After each group plays both individually and collectively, the concert will move to the gym for a more social and informal event. There, the entire jazz band will play for families to watch and listen to, and the band’s secret santa, put together by Faul and including many student participants, will be announced. The night will be a celebration and seasonal send-off for band students, celebrating the work they put into their music before going off into the start of a new year. H

NICO FRANCOIS | HAWKEYE