Saint Martin’s celebrates women’s achievements!
February 28, 2013
LACEY, Wash. – A poetry slam performance and series of student
reflections on inspirational women will be featured at this year’s
Celebration of Women’s History at Saint Martin’s University,
taking place Monday, March 4.
The two-hour celebration, held annually to recognize March as
Women’s History Month, will begin at 6 p.m. in the Trautman Student
Union Building on the Saint Martin’s campus, 5000 Abbey Way SE. The
celebration is coordinated by Saint Martin’s Programming Specialists
(PROS), a student organization that is part of the University’s
Office of Campus Life. Assorted hors d’oeuvres and desserts will be
provided, and the event is free and open to the public, as well as
the campus community.
“We hope this event will empower women to embrace their
individual identities and talents while supporting the women around
them,” says Laurel Dube, assistant director of campus life. “It’s
important to look at the progress women have made in our society,
especially in light of the past oppression women have faced and
overcome. This event also gives us the opportunity to acknowledge
the oppression women continue to experience today.”
Oklahoma poet Lauren
Zuniga, considered to be one of the top poetry slammers in the
nation, will perform. Unlike formal, literary poetry readings,
poetry slam is a competitive event in which poets are given three
minutes to perform a selection of their original work. Of Zuniga’s
poetry style, Dube says, “She can speak as a woman based on her own
experiences, as well as from her observations of what other women
have experienced, and she presents it in a beautiful and artful way.”
Several Saint Martin’s students will also voice their own thoughts
on women who have influenced their lives. Although the celebration
will underscore the achievements and challenges of women, men are
highly encouraged to attend, according to Dube. “The event provides
an opportunity for both men and women to reflect on the women who
are in their lives and appreciate those women’s impacts on their
lives,” she says.
Saint Martin’s University is an independent four-year,
coeducational university located on a wooded campus of more than 300
acres in Lacey, Washington. Established in 1895 by the Catholic
Order of Saint Benedict, the University is one of 14 Benedictine
colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, and the
only one west of the Rocky Mountains. Saint Martin’s University
prepares students for successful lives through its 23 majors and
seven graduate programs spanning the liberal arts, business,
education, nursing and engineering. Saint Martin’s welcomes more
than 1,100 undergraduate students and 400 graduate students from
many ethnic and religious backgrounds to its Lacey campus, and 300
more undergraduate students to its extension campuses located at
Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Centralia College. Visit the Saint
Martin’s University website at
www.stmartin.edu.
For additional information:
Laurel Dube
Assistant director, campus life
360-486-8877;
ldube@stmartin.edu
Meg Nugent Dwyer
Media relations manager
360-412-6126;
MDwyer@stmartin.edu