Inspiration, empowerment and unity are a few of the many words that come to mind when celebrating Women’s History Month. 

To acknowledge the achievements of women at Los Medanos College, the Honors Club, Law Society and Student Life prepared an event for students and staff to come together and connect with each other’s stories. The event began with a movie showing of “Legally Blonde” following a women’s panel discussion in the student union from 2-5:30 p.m. on March 23. 

Sharing similar ideas in ways to celebrate Women’s History Month, the Honors Club and Law Society worked together to make this event possible and began collaborating a few weeks prior. 

The event began with Law Societies’ movie showing of “Legally Blonde,” as the student union was decorated with pink balloons along with free pizza and snacks for viewers to enjoy throughout the film.

Following an informal discussion, brainstormed and brought to life by Honors officers Cara Rieber, Valeria Navarro and Muskaan Adeel, who organized and narrowed down the nominees voted by Honors students to create a panel of inspirational LMC women. 

Honors Advisor Jennifer Saito described the event to include all students and “hope people will come away inspired to maybe have courage and do something that’s outside their comfort zone.”

The discussion featured a diverse group of professors, classified professionals and students. Moderator of the panel, Rieber, described the focus on “uplifting the voices and experiences of marginalized populations” as it “allows us to shed light on experiences that are typically suppressed by mainstream narratives.”

 Panelists featured: biology professor, Jancy Rickman, speech professor, Star Louis Steers, English professor, Morgan Lynn, ethnic studies professor, Adrianna Simone, admission and records representative, Nadiya Korkuna and LMC student, Katherine Mustar. Smiles and laughter filled the room as the panel connected with the audience through topics of imposter syndrome, barriers in the workplace, identity and recognizing inspirational women. 

Conversations brought vulnerability and honesty amongst the panelists as they shared their stories as a woman and redefined their roles from feminine expectations. Rickman believes hearing others’ stories “moves the needle in someone’s mind about who they are,” and Simone reinforces the importance of “pushing the boundaries” through “equality and equity.”

Steers described the experience as “sincere” as there is “power in people sharing their story,” and Lynn was motivated to seek her path to “define success for ourselves.” Korkuna believes her experiences help her “understand students” and “make an impact” with Mustar reminding her fellow students to “become the person to fall in love with yourself.”

LMC student Eliette Bustos believed the conversations were empowering as they are “centered around women, to see how far they’ve come, and their story and use them as positive role models as we progress in our academic journey.” 

The event put together by students and staff allowed participants to connect, listen and understand individual stories to reinforce the importance of maintaining a strong community on campus.