Seeing a need for positive female role models, four seniors developed the idea of Zeta Omega, one of the school’s newest clubs, over the summer.
Sammy Jo Hinnant, Katie Lee, Hayleigh Maher and Nikki Seward are the four founding members.
“The Zeta Omega club was formed because we felt a need for positive role models and it was time for a healthy change in the attitudes of young women,” Seward said.
“Zeta,” for short, now has 14 senior planners, 20 underclassmen members and three adult sponsors.
“High school can be an overwhelming experience as a ninth grader,” sponsor and assistant principal Meldine Lee said. “The choices and freedoms that are available are at best difficult to make when you do not have the maturity or the guidance to make ones that are good for you. This club was established by a group of senior girls who have had successful high school careers.”
The club’s main goal is to bring together a variety of teenage girls under a common purpose which is to fight the pressures and stress of everyday life and encourage all girls that they have a voice in society and their own lives. There are four points necessary to be in Zeta Omega: a positive attitude, a positive mouth, positive behavior and inclusion not exclusion.
“The four quotes are a constant reminder to stay positive throughout your day and really push you to be aware of how you present yourself in public,” freshman Marquenette Fuller said.
The girls in Zeta Omega enjoy spending time together. Because the club has a variety of females with different interests and hobbies, the issues raised during meetings bring conversation.
“I like being in Zeta Omega because it’s nice being with only girls and talking about issues that only girls go through!” junior Leah Basnight said.
Zeta members work together to perform community services and projects while enjoying them at the same time. In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Zeta Omega organized a “Think Pink” week at school. Pink pins were encouraged to be worn every day to support survivors and victims of breast cancer. During lunches pink lemonade and more pink ribbons were sold to raise money.
“I thought it was a cool idea to bring awareness because I’ve recently had a family member die of breast cancer,” senior Morgan Midgett said. “I feel that what we did on Think Pink week could help save lives later on.”
This project proved to be worth all of the work when the week was over. The Zeta girls donated over a hundred dollars to a local woman diagnosed with breast cancer hoping to cover a doctors visit or an expense that the woman would not have to pay for in addition to treatments.
A meeting was held on Nov. 24 to update everyone on the successful ‘Think Pink’ week and brainstorm for activities to participate in for the month of December. The younger members didn’t know the theme for the meeting was conflict mediation and resolution. Two senior girls staged a very realistic fight and Lee got in the middle of the fight. She heard both sides of the dispute and was able to display the actions one would take to resolve it.
“I really thought they were about to fight!” junior Carly Creef said. “They did a really good job acting and getting the point across. I was surprised that it was fake because they really had me going!”
More recently, the club served hot chocolate at the Festival of Trees in downtown Manteo on Dec. 5. Although the winter air was chilly, it was agreed that the hot chocolate was a nice treat.
“It was fun to be downtown at the Festival of Trees. We all had a really good time and laughed a lot,” sophomore Hannah N. Meekins said.
The club will be doing more community service projects and fund-raisers throughout the year.