What made you want to become a student trustee?
I come from a very small school, a very small community and I know a lot of the students at my school felt it was hard to get their voices out there. When I heard about the position, I thought that it would be a really good opportunity to get all these people's voices heard and to make a difference for all of the students in the board, and just make sure that our views were properly represented.
I’ve spoken about this before, but since I grew up in a small community – most classes that I had were female-dominated – even if a male student was in the class, it felt like their opinions were valued more than mine. I wanted to show people that men aren't the only people who can have these kinds of positions where you can make a difference.
What do you or have you done in your school and/or community?
I teach competitive dance at a local studio to kids aged 2-5, and 8-12. I really love it because you get to see all of these kids grow up and change throughout the year. I also babysit a lot, which is another thing I do really like - kids are really nice to work with. Along with that, I sometimes volunteer at the pool in my town, to help out with swim meets and stuff like that. I also tutor children in math and French.
What does women’s rights and empowerment mean/look like to you?
I would say having true equality for all women - women of colour, Indigenous women, and all other marginalized people who are often pushed out of the picture of feminism. I think that it's important that it is included in women's rights and women's empowerment along with lifting other people up. I think it's especially important that other girls aren't bringing each other down because we're all in this together. We want to be girls supporting girls. It’s very important that we lift each other up and don't tear each other down.
It's also important for young girls, and those in the formative points of their lives, to have good role models that they can look up to, admire, and respect.
Read Student Trustee Janevra Pier’s profile here.