Searching bookbag pockets for a pad or tampon and not finding one is a feeling dreaded by everyone with a period. Worse is whispering to a friend or friendly-looking stranger, only to still come up empty. After that, students are forced to share this extremely personal information with a teacher and face a cross-campus trek to the nurse’s office. Getting period supplies at school is uncomfortable, inconvenient, and unreliable. But that’s just the way it is, right?
Senior Harper Dawson doesn’t think so. With the support of the nonprofit Period Project NC, Dawson is working with the National Honor Society (NHS) to install “period boxes” in bathrooms around the school. Period Project NC works with six middle and high schools around the state and was founded by high school students in 2021.
Their “period boxes” are small, inconspicuous containers mounted on bathroom walls that are filled with pads and tampons. They will be stocked by Dawson and the NHS team with donated supplies distributed through Period Project NC.
“It’s so unintrusive. You just walk into the bathroom and pull [a pad or tampon] out. There’s no paywall, struggle or embarrassment,” said Dawson.
Two boxes are already installed in the bathrooms on the first floor of the 4000 builiding. Though Dawson initially had some concerns, there have been very few problems.
“I was pretty scared at first that people would take advantage of the resources and make a mess, but I was really surprised. When the boxes are empty and I haven’t had the chance to fill them up, people put their own supplies in.”
Dawson, along with a small group of other NHS students, plans to add around five more boxes to the most-used bathrooms on campus. Kendall Holtzapple-Blanton, a junior in NHS, is one of these students who eagerly agreed to participate.
“This is a really important project,” said Holzapple-Blanton, “because there should always be access to pads and tampons. Not everyone knows when their period is going to come or can always have supplies on them.”
Dawson brought up the issue at an NHS brainstorming meeting only to find out many other people had the same idea.
“I’m really glad to be working with the NHS and the girls that volunteered. They’ve been super helpful in increasing the amount and circulation of the products and stocking the boxes,” said Dawson.
This project aims to help any student in need, especially those experiencing period poverty. Period poverty is the condition of lacking sufficient period supplies. In teenagers, it often leads to increased occurrences of missing school or class.
“I’m lucky enough to be able to go out and buy my own products, but I know 1 in 3 girls don’t have that access,” said Dawson.
Though the project is appreciated and welcomed by many, some wonder why period products aren’t directly provided by the school, like other necessities such as toilet paper and soap. North Carolina passed a bill to provide funding for period products in schools and set up two grants to provide funding. However, the funding was not enough for every school in North Carolina. The grant was only able to provide funding to 66 school districts out of the 135 that applied. CMS was not one of these districts.
This means the important task of supplying period supplies is up to nonprofits and students like Period Project NC, Dawson, and Holzapple-Blanton.
Since this is Dawson’s senior year, she is prioritizing finding a way to keep this project going after she graduates and is encouraged by working with sophomores and juniors in NHS.
“It’s really exciting to have a team of people that are so invested in this. They saw the same issue I did and also wanted to make a change.”
