Communities

On a Personal Note: Sawyer Taylor-Arnold

On a Personal Note: Sawyer Taylor-Arnold

Story by Gina Malone | Photo by Joye Ardyn Durham

Attending the 2017 Women’s March on Washington made such an impression on Sawyer Taylor- Arnold, now a junior at Asheville High School, that she wanted to become involved locally. She reached out to Marie Germain, associate professor of human resources and leadership at Western Carolina University and the organizer of last year’s Asheville Women’s March. “When she asked me if she could assist me with this year’s march,” Germain says, “I told her it would be better if she could carry out the task. And that if she did that, I could be in Philadelphia to learn about ‘big crowd’ organizing, skills that I’ll bring back to Asheville for the 2019 march.”

Sawyer had imagined that she would play a supporting role in organizing the event, but when plans shifted, she found herself the leader among a group of other organizers, also high school students: Sarah Kate Head, Aidan Justus and Isabelle Freireich. “Part of the motivating factor to get involved after the first march,” Sawyer says, “was because I wanted to make sure I was doing everything I could to support this movement in Asheville. And in light of all the energy and progress that women have made this year, I didn’t want our community to lose momentum.”

Organizers shared duties—answering emails, working with volunteers, processing and packaging t-shirts, coordinating with the City and with designated speakers, and checking Facebook and responding to questions there. “The march was definitely more work than I expected going into it,” Sawyer says, “but we had such a strong system as organizers, and the work always felt meaningful and fulfilling.” She attributes the success of the march to team effort. “Our team mentality was something that really united us and made us a strong group.”

Youth involvement brought a lot of energy and optimism to the march, Sawyer says. “Beyond making a statement about the power and determination of young people, it was exciting to be surrounded by other young adults who are just as passionate as I am about addressing the issues our nation faces.” Her generation, she believes, is “the most accepting, open-minded generation yet and if we all had the opportunities and ability to get involved, the change that we could create is limitless.”

In addition, she had much support and many offers of help from her family: mother, Laurel Taylor; father, Dan Arnold; and twin sister, Hadley Taylor- Arnold. “I am so grateful for the encouragement and reassurance that they have given me throughout the past few months.”

At school and in the community, Sawyer embraces activities that foster her interests and passions. She is class president, part of the Speech and Debate Team and co-president of the club Girl Up at Asheville High, and is a teen advisor to a program with the United Nations Foundation that focuses on girls’ access to education, healthcare and safe spaces in developing countries. “I love anything that has to do with politics or social justice, and after I graduate high school, I want to study political science. I’m hoping to go into politics so I can better serve my community and my country, and through that platform create long lasting change.”

Sawyer, expecting maybe 100 marchers to come out on January 20 for this first anniversary event, was “shocked and thrilled” with crowd estimates at 7,000. “Seeing months of hard work finally culminate into a demonstration of solidarity was amazing. Personally, one of the most powerful parts was being able to give Asheville a voice and to do so alongside my best friends. I felt so proud of my community and of our collective strength and resilience.”

She hopes that the anniversary march will continue to effect change, to energize people politically and to advance ongoing movements such as #MeToo and Time’s Up. “I want this march to fuel a fire that empowers people to run for office, to vote, to volunteer and to get involved.”

She learned a great deal herself along the way, she says: delegation, assertiveness, organization and the logistics of planning a march. “Beyond the tangible skills and knowledge I gained while planning the march,” Sawyer says, “the most powerful and enlightening aspect of it was getting to learn more about the people of Asheville, what they’re passionate about and what direction they want our community and our nation to take.”

To see photographs of this year’s march in Asheville and get updates about future events, visit Women’s March Asheville on Facebook. To learn more about the national movement, visit womensmarch.com.

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