When Wachusett Regional High School student, Ellie Daly, has a good idea she doesn’t hesitate to act on it. Last year, as a Junior, Daly recognized the need for a school club that would give girls the opportunity to get together and support each other in a safe and welcoming environment.
“I was joking around with my friends at lunch that Wachusett needed a club where girls could go and just do homework or talk,” says Daly. “My friends told me that it wasn’t an awful idea, so I started to really think about if I were to start a club what would it be called, what would we do, who would we be? With the help of my best friend and now vice-president, Grace Lannon, and one of our favorite former teachers we wrote up a summary and sent it off to the principal to get approved, and the rest is history.”
With the support of the school, the Wachusett Supporting Sisters was born giving girls at the high school a place to form a strong community.
“The goal of the Wachusett Supporting Sisters is to create an environment where the young women of Wachusett have a safe space to talk with peers, meet new people, empower each other, help the community around us, and hopefully learn something new,” Daly explains. “Everyone has a voice, so we make sure everyone is heard.”
Once Daly got the support of a club advisor and submitted her idea to the principal it didn’t take long for the Wachusett Supporting Sisters to become an official club, at which point they rapidly attracted members.
“We started an Instagram and gained followers quickly,” says Daly. “We also hung posters around the school. The school hosted a club fair and WSS had a table and we got so many new Instagram followers and members from it. Finding members was actually quick and easy because so many girls shared the same passion as us and we knew right away we were going to start something amazing with these girls.”
Currently, the club has over 100 members as part of their Google classroom, with about 40 members attending regular meetings, which are held once or twice a month.
“In those meetings we usually discuss upcoming fundraisers or activities,” says Daly. “We play fun games and talk with each other. In the school every month we paint the windows in the cafeteria to match either an upcoming holiday or season or event.”
While connecting with peers is important to the club, another major focus of WSS is giving back to other girls and women in the community.
“Some of the fundraisers we have done so far include a raffle basket fundraiser where our girls and people in our community donated self-care items to the WSS raffle basket,” Daly says. “We had so many donations and ended up making over $300. That money is being used to donate items to the organization Abbey’s house, a women’s domestic abuse shelter in Worcester. Our other fundraiser we just had was a bake sale where we raised over $700. We plan to use that money for future fundraisers and activities for our girls and the community.”
While the whole school community has been supportive of the Wachusett Supporting Sisters, Daly has particularly appreciated help from Mr. Pratt, the interim high school principal.
“He has come to a few of our meetings just to poke his head in and see what we are up to,” she says. “He makes sure we have everything we need and goes above and beyond to help us out whenever we need it.”
With Daly and Lannon graduating in the spring, the girls plan to hold elections to fill the positions of president and vice-president for next year.
“We also want to open a treasurer and secretary spot for underclassmen” Daly says, who plans to attend Nichols College in Dudley, MA next fall. “We want the club to continue at Wachusett for years to come and ensuring we set up a system for our future sisters is essential.”
For Wachusett High School students or parents who are interested in learning more about the Wachusett Supporting Sisters, visit wachu_supporting_sisters on Instagram.