Student starts county’s first high school pro-life club

Home Big Grid - Home Student starts county’s first high school pro-life club
Student starts county’s first high school pro-life club
Hillsdale Academy Pro-life Club at a rally in Lansing. Courtesy | Olivia Tritchka

Olivia Tritchka, Hillsdale Academy sophomore, founded Hillsdale County’s first high school pro-life club at the beginning of the 2020-21 school year.

Tritchka said she was inspired after attending Protect Life Michigan’s Life Advocacy Training program over the summer. 

“One speaker challenged us and asked ‘What are you going to do to go back to your hometown?’” Tritchka said.

Tritchka said she returned to school in the fall with a new sense of purpose. She decided not only to start a club at Hillsdale Academy but also to work to bring clubs to other schools in Michigan. 

There are 6-15 regular members of the group. They started holding meetings at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday mornings, and have now moved to Friday lunches. 

“We are the next generation, and we have to stand up against this,” Tritchka said. “That is what motivates us.”

The club uses Protect Life Michigan’s high school club meeting outlines for guidance. Meetings include apologetics and practice responding to pro-choice arguments. 

Vice President and senior Maggie O’Connor said they have been working on mastering the scientific argument that life begins at conception. 

“Proving that life begins at conception is almost the bedrock of justifying being pro-life because if the baby was not a human, then abortion would not be wrong,” O’Connor said.

Hillsdale Academy teacher Julie Budd was honored to be asked to be the club’s adviser. 

“It is so encouraging to see young men and women passionate about saving lives, changing hearts, and securing equal rights for all human beings!” Budd said. “Members have accompanied the Hillsdale College Protect Life group to Jackson to share the pro-life message on the streets, have prayed in front of Planned Parenthood in Jackson, and most recently participated in the March for Life in Lansing. The group had planned to attend the March for Life in D.C. before it was canceled a few weeks ago.”

O’Connor addressed questions about the necessity of the club at an overwhelmingly pro-life school like Hillsdale Academy. 

“Almost everyone knows they’re pro-life, but sometimes they can’t articulate it,” she said. “If you’re talking to someone about abortion, this person could potentially one day consider abortion, and this could be the conversation that stops it and saves the baby’s life. You’re speaking the truth and that has to be effective.” 

The club decided to use photography of abortion victims in their outreach. O’Connor said that people often become vegetarians after watching the killing of animals, so they may become pro-life after seeing the reality of what abortion is. 

Tritchka entailed her outreach approach, which led to a mind change. She talked to a man who believed that life begins at conception but had a different view when it came to pregnancies that were a result of violence. 

“He did not completely understand that regardless of the circumstances, it’s the same human. He actually started crying when he finally made the connection,” Tritchka said. “Through the Holy Spirit, we were able to help that man understand.” 

Tritchka said moments like those are what get her out of bed in the morning and motivate her to brave the cold to change hearts and minds. 

“There’s a lot of cognitive dissonances that a culture doesn’t know fully about abortion,” O’Connor said. “We ask ethical questions to people who are pro-choice and it makes them think.” 

Tritchka and O’Connor are on Protect Life Michigan’s “Justice Ride” this week touring around the country to do outreach on college campuses. 

Budd said the passion that these students have for life is an inspiration to the pro-life movement. 

“This group of young students have a desire to share the message of life with people and to do it in a heart-felt and loving way,” she said.  “These kids are determined to not just stop abortion, but to make it unthinkable.”