As an all-girls school, Sacred Heart Greenwich allows students to feel empowered to create female-centered clubs. Clubs allow students to explore different fields and to thrive in different environments. During this month’s celebration of Women’s History Month, the King Street Chronicle highlights the work, goals, and impacts of female-empowerment clubs such as the Women in Finance Club and the Engineering Club.
Women’s History Month began as a local celebration in 1978 in Sonoma County, California. The county’s educational board designated the week of March 8 as Women’s History Week, according to womenshistory.com. From 1978 to 1980, the National Women’s History Project advocated for this locally-established celebration to gain national recognition. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter officially honored the week of March 8 as Women’s History Week. Several presidents continued to honor the celebration until 1987, when Congress monumentally designated March as National Women’s History Month, according to womenshistory.com. In order to gain more recognition for women, National Women’s History Month emphasizes female accomplishments through television specials, political speeches, classroom learning initiatives, and social media posts, according to britannica.com.
At Sacred Heart, girls acknowledge the importance of female representation in different career fields by creating female empowerment clubs. Seniors Ashley O’Meara and Chloe Gaudelet lead the Women in Finance Club. Megan Maloney ’22 and Jessica Thompson ’22 created the club during the 2021 to 2022 school year. The Women in Finance Club exposes Upper School members to the fields of business and economics and how to manage money effectively. Ashley shared her hopes for the club and how her parents inspired her to pursue her interests in the business field, empowering her to become a leader for other young women.
“My role models are my parents, who are both accountants,” Ashley said. “Seeing that my mom was able to be a part of the financial field and take great responsibility over her personal finances really piqued my interest in business, so if young students at Sacred Heart don’t have a female role model, I hope our club can act as a role model for how to be a financially literate woman.”
While the Women in Finance Club instills values of leadership and responsibility, the Engineering Club empowers women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields and teaches them how to collaborate effectively. Junior Moira Marangi strives to help girls pursue more roles in the male-dominated field of STEM. During her sophomore year, she founded the Engineering Club, which aims to provide students with hands-on opportunities and presentations from female speakers in the field. One project the club did last year was an egg drop challenge. The club partnered with the second graders to create contraptions that prevented the dropped egg from breaking. Moira expressed the benefits of this project.
“Our egg challenge showed young girls how fun engineering can be through the older girls’ collaboration,” Moira said. “It also benefited the high schoolers’ leadership role by displaying confidence and discussing the importance of being a role model. I think Women’s History Month is a wonderful opportunity to signify all the power of women we talk about so often at Sacred Heart in various clubs.”
Moira continued to grow the club this school year, adding new members and projects. Sophomore Clare Junius joined the Engineering Club because she enjoys learning more about STEM and meeting people with similar educational interests. Clare reflected on the value of the club and how it has provided her with opportunities in her academics.
“I wanted to be a part of this club because there are so few women especially in STEM and engineering, not just in high school but at the college level,” Clare said. “I think this club is important because it gives girls the opportunity to explore this club as a future career path, and it has impacted me because I am in an extremely supportive environment by being at an all-girls school.”
Featured Image by Michaela White ’26
