Culminating Project
Throughout my years (on various campuses), I have discovered a very unfortunate fact--not every voice is spoken for. Advocating for the minority is something very important to me, and it was only strengthened during my time in the Human Service organization. That is why, for my culminating project, I decided to create an environment that would give a voice to a very specific minority on Western Washington University's campus. That minority is the Pro-Life community.
One might wonder, how is the Pro-Life community a minority? Aren't they constantly in the news trying to take the vote away from other minorities? Through this project, I hope to clear up some of those misunderstandings:
Especially in Washington State.
You see, not only is Washington known as the "most pro-choice/pro-abortion state in the entire country", at Western Washington University, in Bellingham, Washington,there are two pro-choice clubs and no club for the other viewpoint.
Now, you might not agree with the Pro-Life stance, but can't you agree they deserve a voice and the opportunity to connect with and empower others in their community? And, by this, I mean outside of religious or conservative organizations (because there are non-religious, liberal individuals who consider themselves pro-life).
One might wonder, how is the Pro-Life community a minority? Aren't they constantly in the news trying to take the vote away from other minorities? Through this project, I hope to clear up some of those misunderstandings:
Especially in Washington State.
You see, not only is Washington known as the "most pro-choice/pro-abortion state in the entire country", at Western Washington University, in Bellingham, Washington,there are two pro-choice clubs and no club for the other viewpoint.
Now, you might not agree with the Pro-Life stance, but can't you agree they deserve a voice and the opportunity to connect with and empower others in their community? And, by this, I mean outside of religious or conservative organizations (because there are non-religious, liberal individuals who consider themselves pro-life).
What did I do to create a voice for this minority? Why did I choose this endeavor?
During Fall Quarter (2013), I was randomly contacted by a woman named Rebekah Barnes. She was the Northwest Regional Coordinator of Students for Life of America at the time. Having found my contact information when putting together a free resource packet I had ordered from her organization, she called me up. In my contact information, I had listed Western Washington University as my current school. Apparently, Rebekah had been trying to get on to Western's campus for years.
To say it simply, we were both very excited.
In order to bring a strong pro-life voice to Western's campus--with Rebekah's help--I decided to create a club.
To accomplish my goal of creating a club, I trained with Students for Life of America in many different areas (discussed in the next section). Now, I've mentioned this organization a few times and you are probably wondering what exactly they do. Hopefully, by now, you have understood they are pro-life. More specifically, this organization is dedicated to supporting pro-life clubs on campuses across the United States. Here is a promo they created:
To say it simply, we were both very excited.
In order to bring a strong pro-life voice to Western's campus--with Rebekah's help--I decided to create a club.
To accomplish my goal of creating a club, I trained with Students for Life of America in many different areas (discussed in the next section). Now, I've mentioned this organization a few times and you are probably wondering what exactly they do. Hopefully, by now, you have understood they are pro-life. More specifically, this organization is dedicated to supporting pro-life clubs on campuses across the United States. Here is a promo they created:
What steps did I take to achieve my goals?
Initial Meeting
One of the first items I had to take care of was meeting Rebekah face-to-face. We started planning our meet up back in September of 2013. It was not accomplished (due to several conflicts) until March of 2014. However late the first step happened, eventually, it did occur. And, once it occurred, it set of a chain of occurrences for the rest of my time on Western's campus.
I invited several Western students to meet her with me and they actually showed up. Not only that, these students were enthusiastic and eager to have their voices on this human rights issue be heard. We learned what caused Rebekah to become a pro-life activist and received a packet that contained the following:
One of the first items I had to take care of was meeting Rebekah face-to-face. We started planning our meet up back in September of 2013. It was not accomplished (due to several conflicts) until March of 2014. However late the first step happened, eventually, it did occur. And, once it occurred, it set of a chain of occurrences for the rest of my time on Western's campus.
I invited several Western students to meet her with me and they actually showed up. Not only that, these students were enthusiastic and eager to have their voices on this human rights issue be heard. We learned what caused Rebekah to become a pro-life activist and received a packet that contained the following:
Postcards
Flyers
Video Guides
Books
Documentaries
...and more!
Training
While at the initial meeting with Rebekah, we were invited to attend the Students for Life Regional Conference in Seattle, Washington on May 5th. Here we had the opportunity to listen to many speakers. The three that stood out to me were:
Josh Brahm
Flyers
Video Guides
Books
Documentaries
...and more!
Training
While at the initial meeting with Rebekah, we were invited to attend the Students for Life Regional Conference in Seattle, Washington on May 5th. Here we had the opportunity to listen to many speakers. The three that stood out to me were:
Josh Brahm
The conference discussions also included (but were not limited to):
- Social Justice
- Adoption
- Growing Your Group
- Pro-Life Apologetics
- Sidewalk Counseling
- Activism
- Fundraising
- Post-Abortion Healing Testimonies
- Your Legal Rights on Campus
- Media and Public Relations
- Planning Your Year
- Leadership
Creating a Team
Once I returned from the conference, I got to work on recruitment. Utilizing a Club Binder (full of anything you'd ever need to know about keeping a club afloat) that was given to me by the organization, I set out to advertise the club by reaching out to my peers that I already knew were pro-life. Normally, I would have done "clip boarding" or posted about it on Western's forum, but I wanted to create a core team that I could personally train, so I created a Facebook Group to invite all of my known pro-life friends to join me. On this page, you will see that I posted a lot of different resources and testimonies from famous pro-life advocates, as well as proof of the information seminars I conducted to gather interested students together. Along with the Facebook page, I created an email account (which is required of all WWU clubs), a Constitution, and a Youtube account that will host a variety of informative videos.
The final meeting, on May 22nd 2014, finalized the club's core team, saw the application for recognition by WWU be submitted, and developed a strategy for the upcoming school year. I then passed the President's Binder off to my chosen leader so that she could take over my role.
Once I returned from the conference, I got to work on recruitment. Utilizing a Club Binder (full of anything you'd ever need to know about keeping a club afloat) that was given to me by the organization, I set out to advertise the club by reaching out to my peers that I already knew were pro-life. Normally, I would have done "clip boarding" or posted about it on Western's forum, but I wanted to create a core team that I could personally train, so I created a Facebook Group to invite all of my known pro-life friends to join me. On this page, you will see that I posted a lot of different resources and testimonies from famous pro-life advocates, as well as proof of the information seminars I conducted to gather interested students together. Along with the Facebook page, I created an email account (which is required of all WWU clubs), a Constitution, and a Youtube account that will host a variety of informative videos.
The final meeting, on May 22nd 2014, finalized the club's core team, saw the application for recognition by WWU be submitted, and developed a strategy for the upcoming school year. I then passed the President's Binder off to my chosen leader so that she could take over my role.
The Final Results
Want to see the results for yourself? The first Western Washington Students for Life event will be happening during the 2014-2015 school year!