Andrea Jacob'19 is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Health Sciences (Hon.) at McMaster University. We recently caught up with her to find out how she stay involved with Girl Up at university after starting the first local high school chapter at Grammar:
Q: How have you stayed involved with Girl Up at McMaster during your Undergrad so far?
A: I actually co-founded a chapter at McMaster alongside one of my fellow Girl Up Canada Exec Team members who also recently completed her first year! We have around 200 people signed up as general members and we recently created our exec team of 9 girls (including the two of us). I am completely blown away by the huge interest from the McMaster community as we started planning/building our club in April. Since the fall semester is online, we are planning events & interactive activities virtually. There are a lot of underprivileged areas in Hamilton, so one of our big focuses is outreach to the community. To stay up to date with what we are doing, you can check out our Instagram @girlupmcmaster or our Facebook at Girl Up McMaster.
Q: What is the most rewarding part of being a part of Girl Up? And your favourite part?
A: My most rewarding and favourite part was definitely when I attended my second Girl Up Leadership Summit in Washington, DC. That year, I was selected as a member of Girl Up’s Team Strong 2018 initiative. Team Strong was a group of 6 Girl Up leaders from across the globe who represented strength and wellness in their communities. I was given the opportunity to attend the annual Summit in Washington to speak to the 400+ attendees as well as lead workshops and interview the speakers and celebrity activists. It was an incredibly rewarding and eye-opening experience. I remember one of my takeaways from the Summit was acknowledging your ability and learning to harness your power, which really stuck with me.
Q: Where do you hope to see Girl Up go/grow in the years to come?
A: My goal with Girl Up McMaster is to engage and empower youth in Hamilton to rise up and become leaders and changemakers. I hope to educate them and inspire them to use their voices and empower one another in the fight to achieve global equality. In the years to come, I hope to continue to follow my passions and expand my activism, and really just make a difference in the lives of those around me and globally.
Q: How can others get involved?
A: To learn more, you can read about Girl Up on the website www.girlup.org or check out the social media page @girlupcampaign! Girl Up recently just held their annual Leadership Summit, but virtually. Some of the incredible speakers included Steph Curry, Meghan Markle, and Michelle Obama. If you missed it, you can check Instagram & Youtube to see clips from the powerful speaker line up. Additionally, our Girl Up Canada team is working to build Girl Up in each province so checking out the Girl Up website is a great way to see the work Girl Up is doing and get involved. If you have any specific questions about Girl Up, McMaster or Mac Health Sciences, please feel free to email me at andreajacob12@gmail.com, I would love to chat!
