By Reshma Deonarain, Tanisum Halim and Claire Lehane, staff writers

The Animal Rights Club has made its debut in THHS and joined the succession of clubs dedicated to encouraging students to take part in their community. This club, which will meet every Thursday, intends to raise awareness about the hidden suffering of animals in our society through fashion, food, and fun.

The Animal Rights Club was proposed last year by seniors Juliet Barron and Kathy Chang. The two students worked along with club liaison, Renaenia Pangan, to represent their proposal to the SU Board the fall of last year and it was finally approved in late May.  

The club hopes to promote a campaign called “Meatless Mondays,” and work with the THHS administration to create an “Animal Awareness Week.” This would be a week in which the club members hold programs on the realities of  meat production and fashion industries.

The activities set to feature in the club will include animal documentary screenings, vegetarian bake sales, and discussions with local officials about issues such as pet stores and circuses.

With the creation of this new club, students are pleased that there is a club specifically for helping animals. “Animals don’t have a complex, developed worldview, so it’s our job to give them the rights they need,” says Sophomore Kayla Seepersad who feels passionately about this matter.

“Animal rights are important because they help animals from being abused and not overkilling them,” added another sophomore, Vicki Kanellopoulos.

Animal rights is the first club that is solely dedicated to the conservation of animal rights since the PAWS (Pets and Animal Welfare Society) Club ended after being active for about two years. Juliet adds, “I was disappointed to find that the PAWS Club wasn’t very active and composed of about four seniors.” This was what inspired her and Kathy to start the Animal Rights Club.

The two club leaders, however, met with complications when they first proposed the idea.“The SU Board initially was not intent on the idea of the club being separate,” says Renaenia, detailing the process of the establishment of the club. “The reason given was that we had to combine it with Key Club, and that it wasn’t sufficiently different to merit the creation of a new club,” further explained Juliet.

However, through the combined effort of Ms. Oberlander and Ms. York as well as the two seniors, the group underwent necessary modifications and it was finally approved by the SU Board in May as an independent club.

“The Animal Rights Club’s main aim is to gently educate the THHS student body about the benefits of eating plants and eliminating the use of animal products in our daily lives,” says club president Juliet Barron, encouraging students to join and make a difference in the community.