By Caroline Turner
My experience as a summer intern for the Women’s Center is coming to a close with my last day approaching. I have learned more here than I even imagined I would. I’ve learned about gender equality, the existing pay gap and pink tax. I’ve studied and shared articles and info of women’s experiences striving for equality from the science lab to the glass ceiling. I’ve learned about how women are being treated in the media, in the streets, at work and at their homes. I’ve seen women stand up, embody their voice, and join together in the ups and downs that women experience.
One of the biggest lessons I think I’ve learned here is that life can be busy- it’s easy to become glued to our screens, focused on deadlines, or whatever work you have. But when we look up and have conversations with women around us, that’s when we connect and build the bonds that lift other women up. And when you lift other women up, it lifts you up as a woman also.
Sometimes it isn’t until you need a resource that you know where to find them. It wasn’t until I had experience with this that I wanted to help other women’s experience. Throughout my internship I spread awareness of the resources, support, and education available at the women’s center to many new students and people online. It’s easy to push away these social issues, until you realize how you are tied to them. But by learning what social issues are here and what women and others are going through, we learn what is within ourselves.
I am glad to have been here to share some insights and knowledge with you all over the summer. The most valuable thing I have learned and taken away, is being here. Your presence is a gift. Next summer the purple flowering bush by the Haag Hall entrance will be blooming, and I will be an official UMKC graduate. But it will be good knowing there will be women here helping, loving, and supporting others to be their best, as I am continuing to be the best woman I can be.