ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU/Gray News) – A group of high school students in Alaska had some help from one special teacher to raise awareness for what girls and women go through during their menstrual cycle.
Students at South Anchorage High School started a fundraising campaign called The Period Project to help others in the district get more access to menstrual products.
The fundraiser had already raised over $5,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.
The students who participated in the fundraiser got to vote on which of their teachers they’d like to see experience a period cramp simulator.
One beloved teacher, Mr. Hemenway, was the lucky winner.
Nearly 100 students gathered in the school commons to watch Hemenway experience the simulator, and he bravely stuck it out to the highest pain setting.
“Oh god that’s bad, that’s bad … oh my god!” he yelled out during the experiment.
Leila Henderson, a high school student and president of the Period Project, said her goal is to provide access to period products for young students in school.
The Mayo Clinic says the average age for someone to have their first period is about 12 years old, and many can — and do — start younger.
“Our goal is to help out with elementary and middle schools because there is a certain amount of funding for high schools, but it gets little like smaller and smaller the younger you are,” Henderson said. “And we just wanted to make sure everybody had access to period products.”
Hilary Hanson, a high school student and vice president of the Period Project, said dispensers in girls’ bathrooms that require a quarter are outdated because not many young people carry change with them.
She aims to not only provide better access to period products but to end the stigma around talking about periods.
“I think it’s important to kind of take away the stigma surrounding periods. A lot of girls, especially in elementary schools, are scared to talk about it. It’s hush-hush,” Hanson said. “… but it is something that should be shared, and it’s not something that women should have to hide.”
Copyright 2025 KTUU via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.