Hopkinton High School’s Diversity Club, run primarily by senior co-presidents Kevin Gu and Sai Gudempati, sophomore secretary Evanya Mathur, and advisor Ms. Hesse, has rapidly expanded in the past year.

With major events over the past year surrounding diversity such as the Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate movements, more and more students are finding purpose through Diversity Club’s many initiatives and discussions.

“Diversity Club is trying to create a safe place for people of all backgrounds to come together and talk. It is very much a discussion based club,” Gudempati said. “We want to spark dialogue. We want to spark messages of love, inclusivity, and hope through our club. We want to advocate for members of our school community that we feel don’t get the representation that they deserve.”

Since their first meeting of the year on September 24, the Diversity Club already has multiple proposals for this year’s projects.

“The sticker initiative, which happened last year as well, is something I’m really excited to see again this year,” Gu said.”The sticker campaign has had such a wide reaching impact, especially in terms of awareness and spreading messages of anti-hate. Having something like this again would be so meaningful to start off the year.”

This past year, members of the Diversity Club created “Stop Asian Hate” and “Hate has no place here” stickers to be passed around the school – many of which can still be seen in classrooms or on student belongings.

In addition to the continuation of the sticker initiative, other ideas such as decorating for Diwali and aiding Afghan refugees in New England have been discussed in meetings. Faculty advisor Ms. Hesse also spoke about upcoming presentations for current freshmen regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion.

“There are going to be presentations during flex block to the ninth graders followed up by group discussions all to do with diversity, equity, and inclusion,” Hesse said. ”It’s just a really nice way that this whole diversity message is getting out starting with the youngest groups in the high school to build their involvement and hopefully their belief in diversity starting young.”

Many students within the club, including Gu and sophomore secretary Evanya Mathur are writers and have combined their passion for the spoken and written word with their dedication to the missions of the Diversity Club. They encourage those with a love for doing something to consider finding an intersection between their passions and activism.

“People may not think that they can’t do it or that they have nothing to add. They might think that they’re really privileged and they don’t want to think about it, but anyone that’s had an inkling of thought or curiosity should consider coming to a meeting,” Mathur said. “Once you start listening and opening yourself up, I think you’ll have a great time. Your passions can be applied here. There are so many diverse things to do aside from the usual projects.”

While the club has become quite large with over 70 members on the email list and upwards of 20 people participating in each face-to-face meeting, the advisors and student leaders are hoping to expand.

“Any student in Hopkinton High School that subscribes to our message and wants to make our community a more diverse and safe space is more than welcome to come to our club,” Gudempati said.

“It is low commitment. It’s totally based on what you can do,” Gu says.

The club meets Fridays after school in the library from 2:30 – 3:30 PM.