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The Lincoln East senior’s passion started a few years back when she and her friends realized that not everybody has easy access to menstrual products, that period poverty is a very real thing, even in Nebraska. Even in their own school.

It was as if a light bulb had suddenly lit up above Bell’s head. She instantly wanted to jump into action — and she did.

She started by spending a day with her friends set up outside of a local Hy-Vee asking grocery shoppers for donations to buy period products to place in the bathrooms at East. Then, Bell helped found the Feminist Club to keep the conversation going.

“I was really, really happy with the results,� she said.

But, it wasn’t enough to just have the women’s restrooms at her high school stocked. Bell believed everybody in need of tampons or pads at all Lincoln Public Schools’ middle and high schools deserved free access to those products.

So, she began advocating for menstrual equity at Lincoln Board of Education meetings, speaking during the public comment period and meeting with board members one on one throughout the school year to discuss providing free period supplies to students.

“I feel like every step of the way was very encouraging,� she said. “I feel like there was never anyone who heard my idea and was like, ‘No, that’s not a good idea. That’s not appropriate.’ Everyone was very open, and that was really encouraging.�

So, when the board voted in September to allocate $100,000 in the budget toward placing period products in the women’s restrooms at each of the district’s middle and high schools, she was obviously thrilled.

But, the satisfaction was short-lived. It still wasn’t enough. She decided it was time to take her project statewide.

She spent the summer researching legislation passed in other states that required schools to provide free period products in bathrooms, leading her to help draft a bill that would do just that here in Nebraska.

Bell worked “shoulder to shoulder� with Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln to create LB1050, a bill that would require the Nebraska Department of Education to provide every public school the appropriate amount of period products for the projected number of menstruating students in each female restroom, including locker rooms and single-use restrooms.

While crafting the bill, both Bell and Conrad knew they wanted to avoid creating an unfunded mandate. Currently, the bill does not specify exactly how this measure would be funded; however, Conrad said that’s something that will likely be figured out later in the legislative process.

“Everybody agreed that we want to make sure that students have access to menstrual supplies,� she said, “but we also wanted to recognize that we didn’t want to just add an unfunded mandate on the school districts.�

Funding will likely be appropriated by the Legislature, Conrad said, but she can always make amendments to the bill if needed.

The Legislature held a hearing on the bill Monday evening where a handful of people, including students, parents and representatives of several school districts, testified in favor of it. No one testified against it.

John Neal, associate superintendent for civic engagement at LPS, said the district provided free menstrual products for a while before the board allocated money at the start of this school year to place products in restrooms, but the location of those products matters. In the past, free tampons and pads could be found in nurses offices, but not in bathrooms where they are more readily available.

“Free is not the same as available,� he said.

Amanda Roe, a parent of a middle school-aged daughter, said free products in school bathrooms would allow menstruating students to have less stress while on their periods, thus helping them focus more in class during that time.

“I want my daughter and all menstruating children to be focused on learning while at school, not worrying about period products,� she said.

According to Conrad, bills regarding period poverty have been introduced in the past, specifically looking at incarcerated women’s access to products and the sales tax on menstrual supplies.

“It seemed like this was a good next step to continue the dialogue,� she said.

A study showed that across the nation struggled to afford or access period products last year. However, Bell said she was unsuccessful in finding data on a local scale during her research for the bill, which she found alarming.

“There’s no numbers on how many girls are struggling with this, particularly in rural areas, and Nebraska is a rural state. That was very frustrating,� she said. “This is what happens when we don’t talk about things: We don’t know if people are struggling.�

Through the bill and her advocacy, Bell hopes to not only help end period poverty for students across the state, but to end the stigma around periods and encourage other women and girls to break their silence when it comes to talking about menstruation.

“Menstruation is so stigmatized. The only way that we solve that is by talking about it. Issues like this just fall to the bottom. We can’t legislate things and we can’t make policy around things that we don’t understand,� she said. “Advocating for this issue is so important just because more people need to be aware of what girls go through when they’re menstruating.�

Conrad, who has been a mentor for Bell for several years, said working with her has been a “full-circle moment� as she sees the same love for advocacy and will to use her voice in Bell as she did in herself when she was a teenager.

“Cassidy is just clearly whip-smart, super fun, completely passionate,� Conrad said. “She is, I think, exactly what we want young leaders to be: authentic and caring and dedicated and bright and always working to widen the circle to bring more ideas and more people to the table.�

Next fall, Bell plans to attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and continue to blossom her passion for advocacy while pursuing a degree in political science.

There’s no better way to spend her time, she said, than by using her voice.

“Being able to spend my time this way, I just feel so fulfilled. For some people, it’s sports. For some people, it’s drama. For me, I feel like the best way that I can spend my time is by making a tangible impact,� she said.