Zaida-Paige Gardner, one of the National Leaders Collective’s leaders of the month, is a Students for Life of America Thaddeus Stevens Fellow and a homeschool student from Newton, NC. Learn more about Gardner’s activism below.

I grew up knowing that every human life was sacred and created in the image of God, and upon first hearing about the issue of abortion from a legislative perspective in eighth grade, the concept of tiny babies’ lives being taken away in the name of reproductive rights deeply disturbed me. Convicted that I should do something about this issue, I decided to take a risk and write my eighth-grade speech on the right to Life.

After giving that speech, I started looking for ways to get involved more seriously in the movement as a student. After watching a video of an abortion procedure that broke my heart, I stumbled across a Students for Life video on YouTube, and days later I established my SFLA group with six other high school students from my homeschool community campus. However, when I look into the eyes of my seven beautiful siblings, I remember the real reason why I am pro-life: because each life is incredibly special and worthy of protection.  

Since I started Classical Conversation, Newton SFLA, my leadership skills have grown immensely. From learning how to ask questions, encouraging and building up my friends to use their skills and passions, delegating responsibilities, and casting a clear vision to mobilize my club to end abortion in our lifetime, leading a club has taught me so much about influence, teamwork and hard work.

I joined Students for Life’s Thaddeus Stevens Fellowship to help sharpen my leadership skills and help guide me to use my passions and talents to save babies. After being in this program for a semester, I highly recommend SFLA presidents to sign up! I have learned so much not just from the NLC kickoff weekend training, our group calls, or my mentors, but from my friends in my fellowship. Seeing how they lead their clubs, how they handle conflict, how the plan events and how they best use their time and talents has inspired and helped me immensely as I continue to serve in this role in the movement.  

Our top three events that have most impacted our club, our friends and the community were our Summer Debates. Half of our team members played the pro-choice position and the other half argued for the pro-life side. This was such a motivating event for all of us because it sharpened our formal debate skills and caused us to understand the opposition better in pursuit of defending the pro-life cause.

Another one of our efforts was our fall semester fundraisers where we were able to raise a total of $1,193 for our two local Pregnancy Centers which were both expanding their locations in order to support and help more preborn babies and mothers! Another one of our small but mighty efforts on our homeschool campus has been participating in National Pro-Life T-shirt Day. All of our team members and supporting friends and staff proudly wear pro-life shirts as a group effort to remind our community of the sanctity of Life. This event recruited multiple members which in turn helps our group grow its reach! Joining the NLC has helped me better serve my team and the pro-life movement.