Students passing by the cafeteria during lunch the week of Feb. 23 may have noticed members of the Young Impact Club selling buttons. The buttons were a fundraising effort by the student activism group to raise awareness and support for families in the community who have been affected by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the club’s mission of encouraging safe and accessible civic engagement.
Young Impact Club, which meets every other Tuesday from 7:45 to 8:20 a.m. in English teacher and advisor Andrew Smith’s room, focuses on educating students about current events and taking meaningful action in their community. The idea for the club, according to Smith, was actually developed by students who wanted to have a place to conduct activism and community work.
“Students came to me about being an advisor for the club,” Smith said. “They had the idea for the club thought out and I felt that I could help facilitate and give them a place to meet.”
The recent button sale was intended to raise funds to support families in the community who have been affected by ICE. Smith explained that it was to help people in the community, and at the same time, make Young Impact Club’s message more visible.
Junior leaders Lex Brown and Kinlee Kropp, who co-founded the club earlier in the school year played a big part in organizing the event. Brown said the group first decided what cause they wanted to support, and then decided how to raise the money.
“We picked our cause first,” Brown said. “We knew that ICE was in our community and causing issues for people in our community, and we wanted to raise awareness and raise money for families who need a hand.”
Since Brown has experience in graphic design and owns equipment necessary to make buttons, the club determined that making button sales a fundraiser was a practical and affordable option. This was an easy way to spread awareness since students wear backpacks or jackets with buttons. The fundraiser turned out to be very successful. Brown said the club made more than $250, with about 75 percent going to the families in the community and the rest going back to the club to help out with future projects.
Kropp, who also helped co-found the club with Brown said she initially wanted to create the club because she and Brown felt there was not enough opportunity for action-based activism in school. During the fundraiser, the members had different tasks such as designing the buttons and working at the table during the school lunches.
“All of us in the club have an equal role when we’re doing fundraiser or projects,” Kropp said. Even though the topic of the fundraiser could be considered controversial, Kropp said the club expected the fundraiser to receive mixed reactions but the turnout ended up being better than expected and she was surprised by how positive the response from the students were. The turnout “was great, and we made more sales than we were hoping for.”
Beyond fundraising, the goal of the club is to help students become aware of how to safely get involved in community activism and civic engagement. Brown described that the members are focused on becoming knowledgeable about a particular issue and then sharing that knowledge with others.
For the future of the club, the members are already discussing what potential future events might be held. Kropp described a potential idea that has been discussed, which is to recreate a previous project that involved the club setting up an in-school thrift store focused on sustainable fashion.
As a relatively new club, Young Impact has the potential for continued growth and more involvement from other students. Brown described that the club is unique in that it is focused on taking action rather than simply discussing an issue. For students interested in participating in Young Impact Club, they can attend meetings every other Tuesday morning or check out the Instagram page, @youngimpactsahs.
