By Ann Varner
This semester was my fifth semester (including the summer break) with the Women’s Center. Over the summer and during the semester I took on a new role with more responsibility as a senior work-study student. This meant I was in charge of creating and planning events similarly to what the graduate assistant and interns do, as well as delegating responsibilities, creating schedules to keep the office running, and training new staff. It has certainly been an experience that created new challenges, but I feel it has helped me improve my skills in leadership as well as event planning and executing.
Event planning was a new role for me. I needed to understand the meaning of the events and what I hoped for students and staff to get out of them, which helped me continue to learn and understand feminism and equality. A simple event such as feminist film Friday or crafty feminist Friday has multiple meanings and lessons that we hope come out of it, which taught me more as well. I have also been challenged in writing for blogs, as sometimes it feels as though I have hit a writer’s block because I have written so many blogs in my time at the Women’s Center. It is a good challenge though, because I have had to search outside of my realm of comfort to find new topics to think about and research.
I look forward to next semester. I am studying abroad in Senegal and studying women’s health and development while I am there, and will be refreshed with new ideas and experiences. I am extremely excited as I am studying abroad with our Director of the Women’s Center, Brenda Bethman, and an intern who has been at the Women’s Center for a year, Hannah! It has been a busy and eventful semester, but certainly rewarding.