![WASC looks for more than the basic California State standards. According to chairperson Mike Woo, “As new rules and new concerns come up through society, [WASC] look[s] is the school doing something about that. Like the biggest trend post-COVID is mental wellness. So is your school doing something to address the mental health of the students? Along with are they still doing the proper academics?”](https://theburlingameb.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_3401-1200x1200.png)
![“For me personally, I want [others] to see the music program as a strong union because we can really bring out the life of our school,” Vega said. “We need music, you know? Otherwise, things would be really silent and dead.”](https://theburlingameb.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/unnamed-1200x801.jpeg)
Makenna Mahrer attends UN Commission
“Women’s rights are already being rolled back in our current political climate, and and so many other important issues are being largely ignored or disregarded. In the future I plan to continue advocacy work, especially relating to the health of women and girls in developing countries.”
March 25, 2019
Senior Makenna Mahrer, a member of Girls Learn International (GLI), volunteered at the 63rd annual United Nations Commission on the Status of Women at U.N. headquarters in New York City.
The U.N. Commission, founded in 1946, is the principal global diplomatic body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. Representatives from U.N. member states and certain nonprofit organizations gather to assess global issues that affect gender equality and generate an “outcome document” agreed on by each member state relating to the year’s theme and promised future actions. The document is negotiated on throughout the two-week span of the conference. This year, the conference focused on the intersectionality between sustainable infrastructure, social protections, and public services.
With GLI specifically, Mahrer was given the chance to draft the girls’ statement, a speech read on the floor of the U.N. to member state delegates in the hope that girls’ rights will be prioritized alongside women’s rights in the outcome document.
“I was given the opportunity to help edit the diction, structure, and content of the girls’ statement draft, and attended a caucus addressing linguistic and conceptual issues with the outcome document’s ‘zero draft’ which were to be submitted for committee consideration,” Mahrer said.
In addition, Mahrer also helped facilitate discussions, took notes on what was discussed and attended panels regarding the conference theme.
“Though we have taken enormous strides forward regarding women’s rights, we are still far from equality,” Mahrer said. “As a woman growing up in the United States, and more specifically in the Bay Area, I have a position many other girls around the world do not to advocate for equality, and with the position I am given, I have a responsibility to fight for girls where they cannot.”
