Club Spotlight: Omid For Girls Club
Omid for Girls, established last year by a Junior at La Cañada High School, is an organization that seeks to tackle educational inequality by providing personal math tutoring to girls in Afghanistan who are not allowed to go to school. After a single year, Omid boasts chapters at Polytechnic, in South Korea, and now at our very own Pasadena High School! To learn more about this impactful student organization, I talked to the President of PHS’s Omid for Girls club, Zalea Nunes (10th grade).
Zalea explained that Omid operates like a tutoring network. Girls, from 15 to 19 years old, in Afghanistan are paired with student tutors here at PHS. Each girl and her tutor establish a schedule, meeting an hour each week for a teaching session and texting the rest of the time. With levels ranging from higher elementary mathematics to Algebra 1, girls of any math level at PHS have the opportunity to share their knowledge. While there is some curriculum created by the founder at La Cañada for Algebra 1, Pre-algebra, and Geometry, tutors can make their lesson plans and adjustments to fit the needs of their tutees. After my initial research on the club, I became curious; why math? While Zalea doesn’t know the founder’s original reasoning, she believes it is because “math is one of those things that sort of transcends culture and language more than other subjects.” Despite their drastically different situations and varying English proficiency, these girls can connect through the language of math.
Omid, like any other club and organization, is not without its challenges. At times internet connection can cut in and out making communication difficult and unreliable. As a result of this, Zalea has begun efforts to fundraise. With the money they receive, Omid can pay for better data service or devices for their students and expand the range of girls that they can serve. While Omid’s PHS chapter is only 7 girls right now, Zalea is hopeful for future growth. In the next two years of her high school journey, she seeks to “expand…awareness of the situation” and do as much as she can to promote Omid’s efforts.
Students interested in contributing to this organization can visit Ms. Batch-Cooley’s classroom on Mondays at lunch. While this is a female-oriented club, do not fret! Boys can still join the club to gain experience in education, help create more curricula, or organize fundraisers, even though they cannot directly tutor. Prospective members should reach out to Zalea Nunes for further details on how to join the club and help the cause.
As a non-member, you can help too by attending their upcoming Chipotle fundraiser on February 2nd! The money goes to a great cause so I hope you will consider contributing. I’m excited to see how this club grows in the future!