How GG Helped Me Find My Voice
Noelle M., Half Hollows Hills High School President, expresses her goals for her GlamourGals chapter and shares how being a leader has helped her find her voice.
When joining GlamourGals, my main purpose was to help the seniors in my community. I was super close with my grandma and whenever I went to her house, I would give her makeovers (manicures and makeup). This carried over to high school when my friends told me about the club and it sparked my interest. Throughout the four years of being in the club, I have created many new ideas for the seniors. The ideas include making bracelets, pop up holiday cards and many other craft ideas that will be created soon. In the first two years of the pre-pandemic world, I would make sure to paint at least one of the seniors' nails. Sometimes I would be able to paint the nails of two seniors with help from my other volunteer friends. As my third year in the chapter, the pandemic shut down a lot of events and plans for the club, But whenever there was a meeting and new craft to do like coloring in the coloring books or making holiday cards, I was there. I would make around twenty cards for each holiday, not because it was fun but so every senior could have a hand made card or two. One of my biggest efforts was expanding the club to boys too. I had one join this year but that is a start. I want the club to be open to everyone and feel like a safe space to be themselves.
GlamourGals is important to my community because it gives back to the older generations. The senior community is overshadowed by other communities and are not prioritized. This organization does the opposite. We make sure they are happy and taken care of which includes the zoom calls, makeovers, card making and so much more. We interact with them and learn about their lives and how they view things like the new technology or new music and artists. They built the pathways for us to walk on, and they need recognition. Some of the seniors in the community do not have family/loved ones that visit so having other people visit and put smiles on their faces means the world to me. I learned that just being in their presence makes them happy. The best feeling was when my chapter would arrive at the senior citizen community and all the seniors would clap and smile when we were there. I remember their happy faces when I asked what color nail polish they would like. It was the most memorable experience in high school. GlamourGals is important in my community because it brings happiness to the seniors and gives them something to look forward to.
Different individuals and different occurrences have had a big influence on my individual growth during my GlamourGals experience . Before GG I was not fully confident in my leadership skills and taking initiative but in the past four years I finally found my voice. I learned from the leaders before me that you have to be organized, understand everyone's interests and plan out ahead of time. The chapter meetings cannot be planned out last minute or else it will end up being sloppy and not fun. I was nervous in the beginning of senior year as the next president because I was worried that not many volunteers would join but I was wrong. There were at least 20 people to join and I was so happy and excited for the new GG year. I have definitely grown from freshman year and I notice that I am not scared to initiate conversations, make new friends and state my thoughts on certain issues/topics. I learned that it is not a one person job but having a group of people coming together to make a club successful. I could not have learned and grown from the past four years without my chapter advisor(Mrs. Militana), my alumni leaders and my current ones (Julia Pappania, Victoria Fusaro, Ashley Ally and Alexandra Berishiem) and of course all of the volunteers. I am beyond grateful to be able to work with such hardworking people who are very dedicated like me.