Students campaign for change
The New/Gen Club members meet on Zoom for their first club meeting. The club promotes women’s causes through social media campaigns. photo provided by Premanshi Argawalla.
November 11, 2020
In the current political climate, women’s rights have been a prevalent topic across the country. One way students around the country are involving themselves in these discussions is through a woman’s advocacy organization called New/ Gen, focused on social media. Junior Premanshi Agarwalla recently helped found Hockaday’s chapter.
“The first time I heard about New/Gen was when my friend started a chapter at her high school,” Agarwalla said. “I instantly became interested, especially because I had already observed the power of social media activism over the summer and feminism was a topic that I was always interested in, but never had an outlet to express.”
The organization has chapters spread across multiple regions of
the United States. Each region’s leadership team is composed of graphic designers, journalists, outreach directors, editors, research analysts, social media managers and website managers who come together to run New/Gen Hockaday’s social media accounts.
After some initial research, she put together a plan to bring this organization to the Hockaday community. Keeping in mind the main goal of New/Gen, Agarwalla and the club’s leadership team wanted to tailor the club to the school’s needs.
“Our mission is to create a community where Hockaday girls can share their thoughts and opinions regarding women’s rights issues while advocating what they believe in,” Agarwalla said.
Other Upper School students have involved themselves with New/Gen, including senior Valentina Akhtar, who serves as the treasurer and research analyst for the club.
As treasurer, Akhtar manages the club’s funds and donations, helps plan meetings and communicates with Genesis Women’s Shelter to see how New/Gen can be of assistance. As research analyst, she fact checks and reviews all the group’s social media posts, which are created by sophomore Emily Santos.
“I got involved in New/Gen because I am a strong proponent of women’s rights and I believe there is always more to be done to create a more just, equal world,”Akhtar said.
Santos serves as the graphic designer for New/Gen Hockaday. In her role, she creates informational graphics to accompany the club’s Instagram posts and website articles.
“Before making a graphic, I make sure to research and educate myself about the topic as much as I can by looking at all different views and perspectives,” Santos said.
While Agarwalla, Akhtar, and Santos have different roles, they all mesh their ideas and creative talents together, along with the rest of the New/Gen Hockaday Team, to provide a progressive women’s advocacy club. The club leaders encourage anyone in the community to bring forward issues they feel should be brought to light.
Students can stay in the loop by following the Instagram account @newgenhockaday and visiting the website newgen0.org.
“Honestly, we’ve really taken the general idea of New/Gen and made it our own at Hockaday,” Agarwalla said. “We’re arguably one of the most active chapters and I definitely see a lot of potential for this organization as its own entity at Hockaday.”
