Chloe Oakley

In a women’s restroom, a repurposed laundry bin stores menstrual products for people to use, an effort to combat period poverty. Since its founding in 2018, LaunchPad has worked with HOSA to collect and distribute menstrual products around Westwood’s restrooms for student’s use.

LaunchPad is a student-founded organization that provides menstrual products to students on campus who don’t have access to these products. The organization is run by Rifah Mirza ‘25 and Samhita Guntakala ‘26, with Mirza taking over the initiative her freshman year. 

The organization has been active since 2017, intending to help girls who don’t have access to menstrual products, educate guys about what menstruation is really like, and put an end to the notion of menstruation being a non-touchable topic. The organization set up baskets in all of the women’s restrooms at Westwood, allowing anyone to donate menstrual products for people to use. Since then the program has become more well-known throughout Westwood by distributing sanitary products throughout the women’s restrooms.

“I think what [LaunchPad is] doing is really amazing because not only does it help people that wouldn’t have access to these products, it also helps people that may have forgotten their products and are too anxious to ask their friends,” Lyla Caballero ‘26 said.

LaunchPad works with Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA) by encouraging members to donate sanitary products for points, which are then distributed throughout the women’s restrooms. 

“To be a member of HOSA, you have to have a certain amount of points, so if you donate to LaunchPad you can get a participation point,” Mirza said. “We work with HOSA to collect and distribute these products monthly.”

Social anxieties surrounding personal hygiene can make it difficult for students to seek help from their peers, but Mirza aims to make sanitary products more accessible throughout the school to help people who feel like they can’t ask their friends or teachers for help with getting access to these products. 

“I wanted to be able to help girls that need pads but are too nervous to ask for any,” Mirza said. “They should be able to feel comfortable and have access to pads without having to worry about the cost or having to ask someone which can be scary,”

Besides distributing menstrual products, Mirza plans to expand the organization’s activities through period poverty awareness meetings and be established as an official school organization through the Student Council.