Back row left to right: Sidney Grace Culwell, Mary Elizabeth Hansen, Blakeley Ferguson, Juhi Arora, Charlotte Hottle, Logan Wiginton, and Eva Davey
Front row left to right: Rachel Simmons, Madilyn Whitener, Addison Ringer, Lil Sapp, Lauren Thompson, and Kinsley MacDowell
Not Pictured: Sophia Morlandt and Aleena Roy
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines sisterhood as “a community or society of sisters,” but it means so much more than that. Sisterhood is a coalition of women who all experience the same troubles who gather together in order to provide comfort, advice, and friendship to one another. Much like its namesake, Vestavia Hills High School’s Sisterhood Project is so much more than a club. What many people don’t know is that the Sisterhood Project is a branch of Youth Leadership and because of that embodies VHHS’s core values of empathy, discipline, grit, and excellence.
Junior or Senior girls can apply to become Sisterhood Mentors where they meet in small groups with other club members to lead discussions and lead by good example around school. Every day during 5A the mentors meet to discuss lessons and ways of contributing to the community. As a Sisterhood Mentor myself, I can attest that meeting during 5A with girls who strive to lift others up rather than tear them down is the highlight of my day. We all gather to pitch ideas of what we want to talk to our club members about, be it body positivity, social media, friendship troubles, or inclusivity.
On club days four or five mentors give a presentation about what topic we chose to highlight that day. After they present, we break up into small groups where mentors then initiate thought-provoking conversations with club members. Once we finish discussing the prompted questions, we open it up for girls to talk about exciting things coming up in their lives or problems they need help solving. It’s so important to create a warm and welcoming space where lowerclassmen feel comfortable enough to open up to older girls and receive advice that can really help them grow throughout high school.
The Sisterhood Project doesn’t just encourage girls to be accepting of one another, it also encourages girls to get involved in our community through our philanthropy. There are two main philanthropic events that Sisterhood organizes: Christmas stockings and the Tea Party. During the Christmas season, Sisterhood members purchase stocking stuffers and other items and then pack them into stockings to give to underprivileged girls in our community, which is a great way to give back during the season of giving.
Our most profitable fundraiser, however, is one we organize to help with RISE fundraising: the Tea Party. The Tea Party is arguably my favorite day of spring. Basically, we order a bunch of food and open up the Vestavia Hills Methodist Church’s Fellowship Hall to any little girl who wants to color, dance, play games, listen to music, hang out with friends, or even take pictures with our very own Alice from Alice In Wonderland. It’s so rewarding seeing the smiling faces of little girls and knowing that by our good example, they’ll hopefully grow up to be kind and encouraging to other girls as well.
The Sisterhood Project does so much to help out not only in our community but also in our school. By encouraging girls to be more accepting of others, we hope to spread kindness and friendship in a world that tries so hard to put girls against each other. We in the Sisterhood Project think the best way to define sisterhood is this: “a group of girls who love one another and seek to spread that love to our community.”
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