I remember sitting with three girls in a café, sharing our stories of sexual harassment and unconscious biases. We were infuriated by how common these problems are, yet society still shies away from these conversations. We hope that someday we can all put judgments aside, start listening and actively improve each other's lives. A girl shared about the women empowerment project that she and her friend had been working on, and we decided to join them and kickstart LEAP@HKUST.

LEAP@HKUST is a school-supported student initiative aiming to promote gender equality on campus. Our vision is to spread awareness, spark conversations on gender equality issues, and educate students on related topics.

It took us much effort to translate our ideology into events that bring people together for conversations. Through panel discussions, we explored the topics of workplace diversity and women in STEM. Through the blog posts, we dived into topics on sexual harassment and the lives of ethnic minority women in Hong Kong. By the end of the academic year, we gathered ideas from the UG and PG students on ways to improve our campus's gender diversity and inclusivity through a case competition. We received proposals on topics such as sexual harassment, career advancement, gender ratio, and gender-inclusive facilities. Passing this inspiration on to the next batch of the LEAP team, we continued taking steps towards gender equality through events such as a body positivity talk and a summer virtual STEM day camp for secondary school girls.

We started with a team of seven, and recruiting members back then was tough. My highlight of the LEAP experience was seeing the numerous passionate applicants by the end of the year and seeing several boys among them. I always thought of our work as baby steps, but at that moment, I started to see how it has translated into a much stronger impact than I thought it could.

LEAP@HKUST combined efforts from students across all majors. The GBUS community has been supportive of our events and has inspired us to be driven and believe that we can succeed in pushing for our cause. With an emphasis on problem-solving and a constant strive for excellence, GBUS has helped us extend our compassion towards people around us to tangible solutions that change lives for the better.