Nine young minds stood in front of a small audience Tuesday afternoon on the third floor of the L.A. Pittenger Student Center, speaking about the women who inspire them.
Women’s Week was in full swing as feminism, careers and inspiration were discussed by a panel of students enrolled in a women and gender studies capstone course. The event, led by Courtney Jarrett, associate director of Disabled Student Developmnt, and teaching assistant Tiffany Cannon Cooper, was a discussion and presentation of a woman that each student looks up to.
Highlighting the list of women was President Jo Ann Gora, who spoke with student Ashleigh Bingham, a senior psychology major. At first Bingham felt intimidated with speaking to the president of the university, but that changed once she began talking with Gora.
“[At first] it’s terrifying because she’s very much a top dog at this university,” Bingham said. “Once you actually get speaking to her, you realize she’s still a woman ... she just has a title.”
Gora advised Bingham to step out of her comfort zone with her career life because one only has one chance at living, a term Bingham calls “JoGoLo,” similar to the acronym YOLO, or “you only live once.”
Jarrett and Cannon Cooper were both pleased with how the presentation went because of how freely the students interacted with each other and their projects’ interviewees.
The final project’s purpose is to justify the journey of each student, Jarrett said.
“It’s basically the fulfillment of the degree where they figure out what they’re going to do with feminism and women’s studies,” Jarrett said.
For the rest of the semester the class will read an autobiography of a feminist, study films and take a trip to Berea College to attend an event that has two authors they studied this semester.
Cannon Cooper, a senior women and gender studies and counseling psychology major, is the president for Ball State’s Feminists for Action and thought the event was successful.
“Just like last year, once it gets going everyone gets more comfortable and realizes you aren’t in front of a firing squad,” Cannon Cooper said.
Author and activist Jaclyn Friedman will speak about her book “What You Really Really Want: How To Pursue a Real Sexuality in the Real World” at 7:30 tonight in Pruis Hall.
The week will end with the event “Elemental: A Sexual Assault Protection Seminar” at 10 a.m. Saturday in North Quad room 039.
