Society has forced condescending messages onto girls for generations, with devastating consequences on their self-image and confidence. For generations brands have marketed toys to girls teaching them to be softer, more submissive and more domestic than their male peers: what every woman is “supposed” to be.

I love my family and gladly accept the rewarding tasks that come with being an older sibling, but everyone from my friends to teachers rarely consider the energy it demands. My home life requires significant management and effort, yet my teachers and peers alike compare my work ethic for academics to others’ despite the different circumstances of our lives.

Dancers glided across the stage, their carefully choreographed movements synchronized with the beat of the music, for India Nite.

The urgent yet collected voice of assistant principal Lisa Nieuwenhuizen projected through the school intercom at 2:40 p.m. to announce the first Alert Lockdown Inform Counter Evacuate (ALICE) drill of the 2019-20 school year Oct. 8. As Nieuwenhuizen declared the simulated active shooter was in the Main Commons, students within a safe distance poured into the hallways and hurried to the nearest exits.