Elsa Flores-Tamayo

Club president Eva Korotkova introduced herself and the rest of the club leadership board. Their mission is to get as many committed members as they can to aid refugees in the St. Louis area. “They’re [refugees] in this big new world, a lot of times they don’t even know the language, they need our help,” Korotkova said.

 Oct. 7 St. Louis Teens Aid Refugees Today [START] had their first meeting of the 2025-26 school year. The meeting was held in ESOL teacher Deppa Jaswal’s room and introduced the club leadership, as well as an overview of what the club will look like throughout the year. 

The mission of the club is to provide aid for refugee families that come to the St. Louis area from all over the world. 

“A lot of refugees, they come here, a lot of the time unwillingly, they don’t want to,” club president Eva Korotkova (10) said. “They’re forced to leave their homes.”

Korotkova joined the club her freshman year and found a passion within helping refugees. 

“[Immigrants] need our help,” Korotkova said. “They need money, we need to offer them stability.”

In her first year as president, Korotkova plans to further the success of the club by organizing new fundraisers and events where club members can interact and form relationships with refugee families. 

“We partner with other clubs,” Korotkova said.” [Club members] make gifts [and] do different fundraisers,” Korotkova said. 

Korotkova has expectations for this club and hopes to make a significant impact in the St. Louis community.

“The vision I have for this club is [to gather] a lot of people with the desire to help,”  Korotkova said.