The second junior Natalie Stollman sets eyes on the eight-year-old girl barreling towards her, she prepares herself for the impact of the coming embrace. As other girls begin to notice Stollman’s arrival, an air of excitement ripples through the room.

Every week since this September, Stollman has volunteered with Girls Inc., a nationwide nonprofit organization which “inspires all girls to be strong, smart, and bold,” according to their website.

Stollman works to improve the literacy and social skills of 10 to 15 girls each week at EnCompass Academy Elementary School in Oakland, where Girls Inc. provides after-school services.

Stollman said that volunteering at Girls Inc. has helped to engage her interest in women’s issues.

Junior Halley Wolin, who has been friends with Stollman since preschool, said Stollman has been passionate about the feminist movement since she was young, and through Girls Inc., she is able to teach girls about equality.

“Going out of her way to benefit those that don’t have the same opportunities as we do to learn about this idea of equality, that’s definitely part of who she is,” Wolin said.

Stollman’s friend, junior Sophie Gandesbery, said Stollman serves as a strong role model for the young girls.

“She always does the right thing and she’s very kind hearted,” Gandesbery said. “She feels very strongly toward everyone getting a good education, so it suits her that she would do this.”

Most of the volunteers she works with are over 25 years old, Stollman said. Being closer in age to the girls allows Stollman to have a different relationship in comparision to the  the other volunteers who are older.

“I am able to serve as a friend, a role model, and somebody they can talk to about anything,” Stollman said. “Because I’m still in school, I think they can relate to me more than they can relate to a 40-year-old woman.”

Stollman was surprised by the maturity of the young girls. One of them told her that she would soon drive three hours to meet her father for the first time.

“It’s been surprising that they live so close to us but they live in this completely different world,” Stollman said. “A lot of them come from really broken homes.”

Although Stollman does not see herself working at Girls Inc. as a career, she is interested in volunteering with them during college.

“It is an organization that allows me to do something that not only helps people, but it allows me to work on something that I actually care about,” Stollman said.