HER Club Spotlight: Kara Rippey

Today’s spotlight falls on Kara Rippey, a Co-Head of the Sidwell Friends HER Club. Kara became interested in girls’ education in middle school when she joined her peers in fundraising for a girls' school in Kenya. During her Sophomore year, she learned more about HER and its mission to collect educational materials and build libraries across the world. Kara became enthusiastic about HER and later became a Co-Head at Sidwell during her Junior year. Out of all aspects of the club, Kara’s favorite part is being able to virtually meet and engage with the students from HER’s libraries.

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Kara Rippey

Sidwell Friends School HER Club Co-Head

HER Club Spotlight: Arsema Gossaye

This spotlight is on Arsema Gossaye, a Co-Head of Sidwell’s HER Club! Zoha and Hannah reached out to Arsema her freshman year, and after exploring their website and learning more about what the two founders of HER had done, she was eager to join their efforts. Since then, she’s been a Co-Head of the HER club at Sidwell Friends School in an effort to create more equitable circumstances for girls in underdeveloped countries to obtain a good education. She has helped the Sidwell HER Club engage more people in this work so that others will have the educational opportunities those at Sidwell are offered.

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Arsema Gossaye

Co-Head of Sidwell HER Club

HER Club Spotlight: Kate Lewis

Today we are spotlighting Kate Lewis, a Co-Head of the Sidwell HER Club! Kate's interest in girls' education began in tenth grade after she wrote a research paper on female illiteracy in South Sudan. She saw HER Club as an opportunity to address the education disparity prevalent in many developing countries. As a head of Sidwell's HER Club, Kate collaborates with her co-heads to raise funds, create books, and connect with children at HER affiliated schools in Pakistan. She hopes her efforts will provide children with the tools to pursue their intellectual interests and fulfill their dreams.

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Kate Lewis

Co-Head of Sidwell HER Club

SFS HER Club Receives AYPI Grant for Library Materials!

Heads of Sidwell Friend School’s HER club Karenna Warden, Kate Lewis, and Arsema Gossaye earned a grant this summer to support HER’s upcoming work. The grant came from the Arlington Youth Philanthropy Initiative (AYPI), a committee of Arlington high school students dedicated to supporting teen service initiatives with a nexus in their community. AYPI’s grant application process consisted of three steps: a preliminary action plan, a final action plan, which includes a thorough budget, timeline, and write-up, and an interview. 

After their final action plan was approved in March, Karenna, Kate, and Arsema interviewed virtually with AYPI’s board. The leaders were excited to share their knowledge of HER’s endeavors and their hopes of furnishing a library in Islamabad. In June, Sidwell’s HER club was approved for a $500 grant. The project was done in cooperation with students at Wakefield High School, to maintain and foster a connection to the Arlington community. Sidwell’s HER club is grateful for the support of AYPI and looks forward to updating them in a few months about their recent activity!

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SFS HER Club Head Holds Neighborhood Book Drive

From August 20-27, Karenna Warden of Sidwell Friend School’s HER club held a book drive in her neighborhood in Maryland to support the nonprofit’s newest libraries. She wrote and delivered notes to 70 families, asking them to donate children’s and young adult books. The families were enormously generous, for which Karenna is very grateful! A total of 700 books were contributed, in Arabic and English for a variety of ages, which Hannah and Zoha helped take to the Pakistani Embassy.

HER Club Spotlight: Karenna Warden

Our work would not be possible without the help of HER Clubs. These clubs help us collect books, fundraise, and spread awareness about girls’ education in Pakistan, Morocco, and other developing countries.

For that reason, we want to spotlight each HER Club Head! We’re kicking off this spotlight series with Karenna Warden, a Co-Head of the HER Club at Sidwell Friends School.

Karenna spent much of her childhood at her local library, books introducing her to worlds outside of her own and fostering her imagination. Through HER, she ensures that other girls have access to these powerful spaces. She joined Sidwell Friend School's HER club in ninth grade and now is a Co-Head of this branch. With other Co-Heads, Karenna applies to grants, arranges book drives, holds bake sales, and hosts discussions. Through HER, Karenna has also befriended students at the Sarosh Academy Swat in Pakistan.

W-L HER Club at Alexandria Country Day School (ACDS) Country Market

November 3, 2018—Members of Washington-Lee HER Club crossed the treacherous Arlington/Alexandria border to host a table at ACDS’s annual Country Market Fall Festival last weekend. We spent the day raising awareness of the lack of educational materials and libraries for girls in developing countries, as well as raising funds to help us fill that gap. Thanks to all who stopped by and contributed to the cause with your donations and/or your purchases of our Pakistani handicrafts!

Selling handicrafts to help raise funds!

Selling handicrafts to help raise funds!

The future of HER is bright!

The future of HER is bright!

Washington-Lee HER Club Kicks Off Another Year!

October 23, 2018 -- W-L HER Club kicked of our first meeting of the school year with tons of fresh energy from our newest members! This year’s agenda expands our activities to include taking our book drive outside of school, working with other clubs on our campus, participating in harvest fairs to raise awareness, and fundraising to help get our books to more libraries!

New members sign up to provide books for libraries to help young women in developing countries who want to read.

New members sign up to provide books for libraries to help young women in developing countries who want to read.

W-L HER Club President Kieran Donaldson shares this year’s plans at our first meeting.

W-L HER Club President Kieran Donaldson shares this year’s plans at our first meeting.

Flier for partnership efforts to establish a library in India.

Flier for partnership efforts to establish a library in India.

Washington-Lee HER Club Gets Ready to Kick Off Bookdrive!

Fall 2016

On Tuesday October 25th, Kieran, the head of the Washington-Lee HER Students’ Club, led another club meeting. They came up with some ideas and strategies for a successful book drive and generated ideas for additional fundraising activities. Their book drive will run from November 28th through December 19th. They were excited about the upcoming Book Fair at Barnes & Noble, too! Here are some pictures of the meeting and the fliers that were distributed:

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First HER Club in Morocco!

This year, outstanding student Yasmine Sami started a HER Students' Club in her high school in Casablanca, Morocco– Lycée Français International Louis Massignon. On Universal Children's Day (November 20, 2017), Yasmine and 15 student volunteers created a display in their high school with two bicycles and banners saying, "How many kilometers would you be willing to travel to receive an education?" Yasmine explained, "With this activity, we want to evoke the daily lives of thousands of children from rural areas who are forced to walk miles and miles to get to their school." Yasmine also posted quotes about education throughout her school and hosted a book drive. Thank you to all who planned and participated in this thought-provoking event!

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WL HER Club: Awesome First Year!

May 2017

We had a great first year for Washington-Lee HER Club! We hosted 2 book drives, collecting more than 750 books! Congratulations to club members Rebecca and Samantha, who collected the most books for the book drive. And a shout out to W-L High School librarians for their assistance with our book drives. Together, our club navigated rules, regulations, and other challenges for posting fliers, setting up collection bins, and transporting all those books! We are looking forward to expanding the club’s efforts next year.

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Washington-Lee HER Club Gets Ready to Kick Off Bookdrive!

On Tuesday, Kieran, the head of the Washington-Lee HER Students’ Club, led another club meeting. They came up with some ideas and strategies for a successful book drive and generated ideas for additional fundraising activities. Their book drive will run from November 28th through December 19th. They were excited about the upcoming Book Fair at Barnes & Noble, too! Here are some pictures of the meeting and the fliers that were distributed:

Alexandria Country Day School: Country Market 2016 Prep

Saturday, October 22, 2016

For the past couple of months, Zoha and Hannah have been working with Alexandria Country Day School (ACDS) in creating a HER booth at the school's Country Market. The Country Market is a fall fair for ACDS students, including games, food, and more types of fun! This year, HER will participate by selling bookmarks and pencils, and by spreading the word about its upcoming projects and ways for people to get involved.


This past week, Zoha and Hannah led two bookmark making sessions with the students at ACDS. The bookmarks being sold are 100% student-crafted and handmade. Here is a quick peek into our last session on Friday, October 21st. Enjoy!

Sidwell Club: HER + FEM Meeting

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Yesterday during lunch, our Sidwell Friends HER Club had it's second meeting. The meeting was in association with Sidwell's Female Empowerment Mission, and during we watched and discussed a TED Talk about the importance of educating girls by Kakenya Ntaiya. Thank you to everyone who came!