Past the hustle and bustle of students getting to school on a Tuesday morning, a table can be found in the main foyer. This table holds an array of cookies, muffins, and other baked goods, alongside tampons, pads, and other menstrual products. It’s Tampon Tuesday.

“Tampon Tuesday is a mix of a fundraiser and a bake sale to collect and get money for menstrual products,” Mae Barron ‘22 said.  [The menstrual products] are distributed across school for students to use for free.”

This year, Tampon Tuesday is run through student senate, and has been primarily led by Barron, Nathalie Nunez ‘22, and others. Nearly every Tuesday, students can grab a baked good in exchange for a menstrual product or a dollar. These fundraisers have been successful, as menstrual products can be found continuously stocked in restrooms across City High. 

“Right now we’ve been having Tampon Tuesday bake sales less frequently because we have some money saved up from past fundraisers,” Barron said.  “We’re just continuing to distribute the products that Student Senate has gotten with that money.”

City High’s students have been benefiting from Tampon Tuesday for many years. In previous years, Interact Club ran the program. 

“Various clubs have done [Tampon Tuesday] throughout the years and it’s always been super helpful for me when I need a period product,” Barron said. “I just thought that [it] was a really cool thing that we could continue for our community and bring back for this year.”

According to the University of Michigan school of public health, 1 and 5 women miss school due to a lack of menstrual products. 

“I think that Tampon Tuesdays are super important because having stress free and cost free access to menstrual products helps make students feel safe and more secure at school,” Barron said.

Along with providing free access to menstrual products around the school, Tampon Tuesday also helps normalize menstruation. 

“[Tampon Tuesday] also reduces the stigma around menstruation. Because if people don’t have to feel the embarrassment or stress of having to find a menstrual product when they need one in an emergency, that’s just so helpful.”

Student Senate and Tampon Tuesday’s leaders are planning to continue the program next year, with hopes of maintaining a consistent schedule.

“I hope that in the future, [Tampon Tuesday] can get up and running even sooner in the year and really [become] a regular thing at City High, not something that has to be restarted every year.”