By Jamie S. Thompson, Contributing Writer & Social Media Manager
HERstory was an event held on March 8th, 2022 in the Student Community Center Boardrooms of Saint Leo University main campus, in honor of International Women’s Day. Pamela DeCius, Humanities Instructor and Associate Chair of the Language and Arts at Saint Leo University has created this event since 2009 when she was an adjunct professor.
She expressed her love for this event mainly because she currently teaches a class on this that features women artists called Curves Ahead. “This is close to my heart, women’s rights are close to my heart!” exclaimed DeCius.
Artists who have pieces in the National Museum of Women in Arts were presenting their pieces of art on Zoom. Currently, this museum that is located in Washington, D.C. is closed due to it being renovated. Nonetheless, there was an activity where you got the chance to use iPads and take a virtual tour of the museum.
DeCius also won a raffle the museum held; she used most of the artwork from the National Museum of Women in Arts while creating the course schedule and entered the competition just for the fun of it. Her prize was two round-trip tickets to Denmark, and she decided to take the trip with her eleven-year-old child.
The selection of clubs and organizations in HERstory was specifically chosen to highlight women in power.
Abegail Moncur, a junior majoring in Ecology who is vice president of the K-Pop and Anime Club represented her organization. Moncur stated that the main goal of her club is to create a community for people who are interested in Japanese and Asian culture.
Cindy Donovan, Communication Chair for the League of Women Voters of Hillsborough County said that she was brought to this event to register voters and encourage people to vote.
“Voting is very important because it’s the primary way to indicate what we want as citizens,” said Donovan.
Rozanne Ritter is a member of the Dade City Quilting Club. Members of her organization teach people how to create quilts. “We make quilts for new homeowners and also for the local hospitals,” said Ritter.
Ritter’s passion for sewing began when she was younger.
“I loved talking about sewing and I learned how to sew when I was twelve years old,” Ritter said. “When you know how to sew using a sewing machine it can grow to create other things like purses, quilts, curtains, and other things that you can earn income from to.”
The Dade City Quilting Club is always open to new members; they consist of a wide range of ages from juniors under 17 through ladies that have retired. “They love to sew, and they love to be with people too,” Ritter commented.
During the HERstory event activities such as Mrs. Monopoly were played too. This type of Monopoly was mainly focused on women’s empowerment. In a regular Monopoly game, all players would begin the game with the same amount of money, but in Mrs. Monopoly women are given $1900 and men $1500.
The different groups and organizations that were present in the HERstory event depict how diverse and multifaceted women can be. From handcrafts, to art, animation, and political activism, women can occupy various spheres in the world.
