STF UMN Spring 2018 Semester Recap
- Larissa Milles
- Aug 31, 2018
- 3 min read
As we start to gear up for our next semester at STF UMN and as an inagural blog post to our website, we wanted to re-share our Spring 2018 semester recap from our newsletter. We are looking forward to another semester full of advocacy, service, and some delicious grilled cheese!
We had another incredible semester here at STF UMN. To start, our chapter continued to grow this year, and we are now 90 members strong! In order to get to know all of our awesome new members, we implemented our new monthly Chai & Chat program to encourage members to grab a coffee (or a chai) and chat with someone new. Our members also volunteered at Second Harvest Heartland, the Minnesota Dance Marathon, and the Give Us Wings Gala and attended several campus events together, including attending a speech by #MeToo movement founder Tarana Burke.
We were also excited to be a part of some really wonderful events. We had the great honor of hosting the Be a Warrior Brunch sponsored by Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time. The brunch brought in seven spectacular panelists who spoke to 200 guests about what it means to be a warrior woman. We also held a fundraiser called “Cocoa for Consent” in support of the U of M's Aurora Center, which advocates for victims of sexual assault. For this fundraiser, we sold mugs and hot cocoa to raise funds and awareness for the center and the Fund Aurora campaign.
And of course, our main focus this semester was on our fundraising (because that's what this is all about, right?). Besides supporting girls’ education, there is another thing we love a lot here at STF ... grilled cheese sandwiches! We hosted another successful Cheese the First (our semesterly grilled cheese delivery service) fundraiser in April. We prepared, cooked, and delivered 539 gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches to hungry Gophers, raising over $1500 to support our scholars!
Finally, spring semester ended with a bang and our second annual Sweat for STF 5K. More than 200 people came out to run, walk, and dance across campus in support of girls’ education. Thanks to the support of all of our participants and donors, we were able to raise more than $2200 dollars for our scholars.
As much as we prioritize fundraising and volunteering, we also believe that knowledge is power, which is why we hold global awareness and current event discussions at all of our biweekly meetings. At every meeting, a member selects a topic to present and discuss as a group. Our discussions this semester -- covering media bias and representation of women, LGBTQ representation, human trafficking, girls and sex, climate change, and refugees and immigration -- engaged the many different perspectives that our members bring to the table.
Everything we do here at STF is centered around the goal of providing funds to our scholars so they can attend school and receive a quality education. As a result of our work this semester, we raised more than $7000 and will be able to continue to support our 19 scholars as they move forward in their educational pursuits. We thank all of you for the tremendous support ... because of you, we are able to help these remarkable girls reach their full potential. We know that with the education our STF scholars receive, many more women will change the world!
We thank you for your unwavering support, and we are excited to see what our scholars, our members (including our grads Amanda, Hannah, Gabby, Kayla and Zoe), and our supporters accomplish as we strive to make the world a better, more equal place.
We were also excited to be a part of some really wonderful events. We had the great honor of hosting the Be a Warrior Brunch sponsored by Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time. The brunch brought in seven spectacular panelists who spoke to 200 guests about what it means to be a warrior woman. We also held a fundraiser called “Cocoa for Consent” in support of the U of M's Aurora Center, which advocates for victims of sexual assault. For this fundraiser, we sold mugs and hot cocoa to raise funds and awareness for the center and the Fund Aurora campaign.
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