Gainesville High School is introducing a new club, YOVASO! YOVASO stands for Youth of Virginia Speaks Out. The club was founded by Husna Arfan, who is a sophomore here at Gainesville High School. I interviewed Husna to learn more about YOVASO itself and its goals for the students at our school.
“YOVASO is about traffic safety and helping teens with safe driving, as there is an increasing number of teen car crashes in Virginia” Arfan said.
YOVASO’s goal is to decrease the car crash rate and hopefully bring it down to zero as there are many families who have lost their children to these accidents. I wanted to ask Husna why she started this club, what motivated her to and what interested her.
“I started this club because I went last summer to the YOVASO sum mer retreat. I got to see a bunch of different guest speakers, their stories and what they have done to make a difference with teen driving. And so that kind of motivated me to help teens here, who are really passionate about driving, but they don’t know the precautions, or how to do it safely. So, having a club like this can help so many teens at this school become safer drivers” Arfan replied.
I asked Husna on how this club will provoke change in our school, and she had a great response.
“By just seeing how the consequences are so big, this can provoke people to see, like, oh, I don’t want this to happen to me or any of my loved ones. So, I want to make a difference too, by seeing other people’s stories” Arfan stated.
YOVASO will be holding a few events such as mock crashes and fake simulators to stimulate what it would be like to be in a car crash. Additionally, guest speakers will attend some club meetings, and a variety of fundraiser events will be held. Now, if you are interested in joining YOVASO, you can go see Husna or scan any of the QR codes on the posters around school. There are no dues or any requirements to join, and they are looking for more members!
