By Samara Kinyanjui ’27
Abigail Circle is a student-led, woman-centered affinity group. It was created to give women a safer place to feel like their voices were being heard on campus. It gives women on The Frederick Gunn School’s campus mentorship and guidance that can make a significant difference in the community. Meeting with female-identifying students on campus leads to unity within the community. Knowing that community members can benefit from the meetings makes this group unique.
Abigail Circle has now brought back women’s fitness hours, which runs from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm on Thursdays. During these hours, the gym is only available for female-identifying students and faculty on campus. This selected time guarantees female-identifying students an opportunity to work out in a space they feel comfortable in. Working out in public gyms can be challenging for individuals, especially for women.
Women may feel as if they have to look a certain way or be able to lift a certain amount of weight in order to work out in the gym. Some women may feel the need only to work out when the gym population is low to prevent being harassed or disturbed. Making students on campus aware of the safe spaces available to them can help the community as a whole, which relieves the pressure on female-identifying students when they want to work out.
Abigail Circles club leader Joanne Wimler shared her view on why she felt that having these fitness hours could positively affect the female-identifying student body on campus. “We found that many of our female students share a common discomfort in the fitness center, and those results clearly indicated that action was needed. Through many conversations with Mr. Drew, DOS, Mr. Marich, and the girls in the group, we formed a plan for the all-girls gym hour. This is important to our community, especially our female-identifying students, because it directly answers the voices expressing inequity in our community. The all-girls gym hour is just one example of how important it is to advocate for change, especially in your smaller community.” Abigail Circle’s Women’s Fitness hours will continue to provide a change for the women on campus.
