All ninth graders learn their way around the weight room during Fitness for Life, and many sports will use the equipment for weight training, but many females who attempt to use the weight room after school report on feeling uncomfortable. 

One facet of the weight room that sees an imbalance of gender is the Weightlifting Club.

Weightlifting club only has one female member, junior Jasmine White.

Anywhere from fifteen to thirty students use the weight room after school on a daily basis, and according to the after school weight room supervisor Melissa Douden, more males than females come to the weight room, but she does not have an estimate of numbers for each gender. 

Sophomore Ganga Corsaro went to the weight room a few times with her sister, sophomore Jamuna Corsaro, after school during ninth grade. They felt a little out of place each time. “It’s kind of awkward because it’s a lot of the upperclassmen guys, and then it was just me,” Corsaro said. 

Sophomore Noa Gross used the weight room during Cross Country due to an injury, and even though she eventually became used the gender imbalance, she did not feel comfortable at first. “As a freshman I was kind of scared, not gonna lie. There weren’t that many people that I knew. I was usually the only girl,” Gross said.