The Students for Social Justice group is taking a different approach this year. They decided to split from one group to two sub-categories; SSJ global and SSJ local. This split does not apply to the group as a whole, since global and local are still part of SSJ group. Both sub groups abide by the mission statement to uphold the international declaration of human rights. However, this constitutes a way for the group to take on more issues and have a more influential role in the community. SSJ global, lead by sophomores Kathryn Schmechel and Moira McCarthy, is focused on tackling national and international social justice issues by educating themselves and the community and taking action. SSJ global’s first project is a letter writing campaigned to colleges throughout the nation on their flawed policies for handling sexual assault on campus. Even highly regarded colleges and universities have corrupted policies regarding sexual violence on campus leading students who have faced this kind of violence to be reluctant to come forward. SSJ global hopes that by conducting this campaign they will be able to raise awareness among college administrations about how their flawed policies are discouraging some students from applying there. SSJ global plans to expand this project to the rest of the school in order to get as much involvement as possible. SSJ local is lead by juniors Claire Walsh and Alena Porter. Their mission is to focus on social justice issues directly affecting the St. Paul Academy and Summit School community. SSJ local’s first project is focused on eliminating the sexist language and connotations of the SPA dress code. This is an issue that the Upper School  Council is heavily involved with at the moment and SSJ local hopes to be able to be a part of the conversations regarding the much needed changes to the dress code. With the new group style, and a multitude of new students serving on leadership positions such as education manager, treasurer, and project manager, this is an exciting time for SSJ.