By Janae Phillips, Advocacy Programs Manager

I have a true soft spot for chapters programs. I’ve been working with them professionally for over a decade, but before that, I was a college student who started a chapter on my campus for something I was passionate about. Without exaggeration, that experience changed the course of my life: it gave me an outlet to put the theory I was learning about activism into practice, the opportunity to lead a group and learn from my successes and failures alike, and the confidence to share the mission of something that mattered deeply to me.

I was lucky: my university allowed students to express themselves and what they cared about openly. Had I tried to start a chapter as a teenager at the only public high school in my rural, conservative community, I would have faced many more challenges – so many that I didn’t feel like I could. That’s the experience of so many girls around the world.

One of the most unique things about She’s the First Campus is that it was founded by a girl. In 2010, Chelsea Orcutt started a chapter of She’s the First at Syracuse University. Because Chelsea launched the first group on her school campus, the growing community of student groups naturally became known as STF Campus, a name that has served it well for the last 14 years. 

At She’s the First we’re consistently evaluating our work and how it reflects the mission and vision we set for ourselves. As our impact has spread, more and more girls wanted to start a chapter but did not have the support necessary from their school, whether because of ideological differences or resource restraints. The policy that chapters were always based in a school was no longer serving girls. When we quietly stopped enforcing this policy over the last year, many girls who previously couldn’t start an STF chapter were able to do so, from cities across South Africa, Ethiopia, India, Pakistan, Romania, and the United States.

This change in policy also makes it easier for girls in the community-based organizations we work with throughout the Global South to form chapters if they so choose. Many of these are mentorship programs that support girls’ access to school but are not schools themselves. By removing that barrier, we’re building stronger connections across STF programs.

There’s really only one more thing to address: the name. “Campus” no longer applies to our entire community! 

For that reason, I’m pleased to share that She’s the First Campus will now be known as She’s the First Chapters.

For all of the girls who didn’t feel they could start an STF chapter before now – and for the girl I was in my small town – I’m really excited about this change, and hope you’ll join me in celebrating this next, well, chapter for STF Chapters.

Header photo by Esther Sweeney for She’s the First