Event Reflection

The event I chose to attend was the end-of-year celebration because, unfortunately, my schedule did not align with any of the other events. I really wanted to attend the poetry night because I felt like that was something I would’ve enjoyed, but I had to work, unfortunately. I was a little bit late for the celebration; however, I was still welcomed in with open arms, and I was very excited. They had snacks and drinks, and it was just overall a very nice place. They were giving out things to both the kids graduating and not. Yet what I really enjoyed was that it wasn’t just for women in understudied majors. It was also for minors, which is nice and inclusive as well. Although it wasn’t really structured in like a way where I could write about every single thing that was supposed to happen, I had a really good time. We talked about our experiences, our lives, what the graduates plan to do when they're done, and what they want to use their degrees for, and even just talking about everything in our time within women's and gender studies was awesome. Being that I took on this minor pretty randomly, I’ve come to the conclusion that it was one of the best decisions I could’ve made during my college career, honestly. There were three professors there; one was Ina, of course, and the other was Amanda Masterpaul. I actually did not know the male professor there, but he still seemed very knowledgeable in this field, despite still being a man. I had taken, I believe, two classes with Amanda. One was the intro to women and gender studies, which was what really solidified my interest in the minor, and the other was authoring resilience, which honestly had me debating on if I shouldn’t even keep my mind or not, because it was a bit of a challenge compared to the intro class. However, Amanda is a very understanding and supportive professor, and I couldn’t have asked for a better system of support during that terrible time. I really enjoyed that. The event was in a small space with some chairs and goodies and some refreshments because it felt like a very open and welcoming space for us to just talk about really anything. We were talking to Amanda about the things we had learned in our women and gender study classes, and then we were talking with Ina about regular things that happened throughout our daily lives, and it was just a great experience overall. I really enjoyed the end-of-year celebration, and I’m glad I’m a woman and gender studies minor. The only thing I really could say that I wish were different about the celebration is I wish we were in a little bit of a bigger room so that we would have had more room to walk around and chit-chat. I can also say that I know Ina and Amanda did put a lot of thought into doing the celebration for us. Of course, this didn't have to be an event at all; they could have just sent out an email saying thank you and called it a day, but they took the time out of their day to create an event for us to come and have a nice chill time. I wish more people would have come; I'm sure before I got there there were more people, but even when I got there it was only a few others. Overall this was a great event, and I really appreciate Amanda and Ina for going through all the trouble to do it for us. I also can say I wish I didn't have to work so I could have stayed and mingled a bit longer; I enjoyed meeting others with similar interests.