Photo by Giancarlo Sepulveda
The Women’s Herstory Month closing luncheon took place on Thursday in Friends Hall. During the luncheon, all of the clubs and organizations that participated during the month were recognized and asked to speak about their experiences during the month.
Events included a positive body talk yoga class, a freedom through expression event, a talk on reproductive freedom in New Jersey and the nation as a whole, an abuse awareness event and a screening of "The Hunting Ground," a documentary about rape on college campuses, their cover-ups and the toll they take on students.
Berly Rivera, a sophomore and the women’s outreach coordinator of the Women’s Center at Ramapo, who was in charge of planning the month, hosted the talk and spoke more about it and its events. Rivera opened her talk by listing all of the events that transpired during the month.
“The theme for this year was ‘Her Health, Our Health,’ and it encompasses the mental, physical and emotional health of women in correlation, with a focus on defining, determining and promoting her overall health. I’m proud of how this month turned out; there were some bumps and kinks along the road, but for the most part it was a learning experience,” Rivera said. She added that in planning for next year’s Herstory Month, she expects it to be bigger and better than this year.
Rivera then asked certain members of different organizations who took part in the month to come up to the podium and speak on the month and how they thought it went. Representatives from Lambda Delta Phi and a representative from the Women’s Center offered their experiences. Jonathan Cedeno of Lambda Delta Phi was the first to come up and talk.
“We did tabling around the Fishbowl and stuff like that. We wanted to ask people in general about some of the issues they think that involve physical, emotional and mental health. We thought that was important because it would get their voices heard, and the most important thing for change to occur is to hear the voices and opinions that people have,” Cedeno said.
Grace Maute, the student violence prevention coordinator of the Women’s Center, was the next to speak. She helped put on a Law and Order: SVU marathon and the screening of “The Hunting Ground.”
“I put on these events to emphasize that there is a distinct intersection between things like sexual assault and sexual violence and between women’s health, relating to women’s safety, as well as mental health,” Maute said.
Rivera closed out the event by thanking everyone who participated in the month’s events, who helped make the month such a great success.
“I think, overall, the entire month was a great display of how far we've come with women's mental and physical heath. It is important to not only learn from everything, but to inspire others as well,” commented sophomore David Blutstein, a student in attendance at the event. “Just because this month is over doesn't mean that what we've learned is any less valuable moving forward."
lheckelm@ramapo.edu
