As the students work, the noise of voices and laughter blends into a buzz inside the room. High schoolers walk around with colored construction paper, markers, stickers of pride flags and rainbow ribbons. Why so? Alliance club is making custom name tags with each student’s name and pronouns.

The alliance club at Wayland High School is dedicated to spreading awareness about some of the issues LGBTQ+ people face, as well as providing a safe space for students at the school. Since former alliance advisor Kassie Wright left WHS, a new teacher has stepped in to take her place: history teacher Laine Winokur.

Winokur was also the advisor for the alliance club, or the GSA (Gender and Sexuality Alliance) as they called it, at her previous school. She was unable to advise any clubs at WHS last year due to it being her first year teaching here, but she was able to start this September.

“Teacher Hayes and Ms. Wright both talked to me at the end of last school year because Ms. Wright was leaving, and asked if I would be interested in advising [the alliance club],” Winokur said. “And I said, ‘Of course,’ so here I am.”

This school year, Winokur wants to connect more with the students through the alliance club, as well as reach out to and make a positive impact on the students in the club.

“I really just enjoy getting to know students outside of the classroom–students that I don’t have–and making more community connections,” Winokur said. “I think that’s really fun and important, so I’m really excited about that.”

After advising the club at her previous school, Winokur believes her experience with alliance clubs will be helpful in advising the club here as well.

“I think just [my] experience with being an advisor [could be helpful],” Winokur said. “I’ve done fundraisers and field trips, and hosted events with students and helped guide them through that. That’s really what I see my role as.”

In addition to her previous experience working with the club, Winokur said that the issues the club focuses on–such as educating people on LGBTQ+ issues and making sure students have a safe space at our school–are something that is very important to her personally.

“Especially the safe space part [is important to me],” Winokur said. “We’re very lucky in the part of the country we live in and the community that we live in that, in general, it is a fairly safe place to live, but I do think it’s important for our students to have an even safer safe space.”

In her role as advisor of the alliance club, Winokur hopes to have a positive effect on the students at WHS. Already, she says, she has been able to see that WHS students’ excitement about the club, and she hopes that she will be able to contribute to that.

“I feel like I’m still trying to figure out [the impact that this club has on students],” Winokur said. “I will say that this club is a lot bigger than the club at my former school even though my former school is about twice the size of Wayland. So I think that, in itself, speaks to the impact of this club, as more people get the word out, more people want to be involved and have that safe space.”

As Winokur is just beginning her time as an advisor for the alliance club, she looks forward to the positive impact that the club–and herself as an advisor–can have on our school community.

“I hope [the alliance club] accomplishes its goals,” Winokur said. “I think they’re still trying to figure out exactly what those goals are going to be for this year, but I hope they’re able to accomplish them, and I hope I can help them do whatever they want to do.”