High school student helps create global book club

Julia Crafton, a student at Vernon Township High School, helped create a global book club, which will meet online Tuesday, Feb. 7 for the first time.

The first book that will be read and discussed is “We The Women” by Julie Suk. The club will meet in the upper library during unit lunches.

Members of the public may participate by sending email to Kweyant@vtsd.com for information about accessing the meeting.

At the end of six weeks, there will be an online meeting with the author.

“As high schoolers, we wanted to know what we could do to continue the work that started over a century ago. So, thank you to everyone who is wanting to be a part of this,” Julia said.

“It is a cause that is very close to my heart and important for everyone, especially Americans, to know about.”

Julia, who is doing her junior and senior year concurrently, entered an essay contest sponsored by Columbia Law School last year that asked students to re-imagine gender justice and the Equal Rights Amendment.

She submitted her essay titled “The Art of Interpretation” about why gender equality will never be guaranteed unless it is explicitly written into the Constitution.

Julia did not win the contest but she was invited to attend a conference where Ting Ting, director of Columbia Law School’s ERA Project, was the guest speaker. At the conference, all participants who had written essays were driven to continue the work they had learned about while writing.

They had the idea for a global book club/discussion group, and Julia was recognized as a co-founder.

The book club will take place worldwide, with Vernon Township High School partnering with Columbia Law School for six weeks.

Planned conversation topics include Historical and Existing Frameworks for Gender Justice, Amending the Constitution, Women’s Protests and Activism, The ERA and Intersectionality, International and Comparative Contexts and Gender Justice and Education.