On Thursday, March 8th, Dana hosted an event whose goal is to teach young girls that being a woman is something to celebrate and fight for. Our school hosted an event to celebrate International Women’s Day.

On this day, in between 2nd and 3rd period, all of the girls from Dana were called into the auditorium to take part in an assembly. The assembly was regarding the empowerment of women, and how young girls can thrive in a male dominated world.

Some teachers had their female students take a short survey which asks them to list three words that best describe women. This survey, which was taken by Dana students, asked them to pick three out of a long list of adjectives that are used to describe a woman.

The top 10 of the words that were chosen were actually put on the T-shirts. Written on the front of the shirts read “Strong Women, Strong America, Strong World.”

Richard Henry Dana Middle School students wore purple t-shirts with a chosen slogan on the back for stand up for “Girl Power” on International Women’s Day.  The girls could choose from ten words to describe themselves, Beautiful, Powerful, Brave, Strong, Independent, Fearless, Intelligent, Smart, Passionate, Amazing. The #PressforProgress campaign is getting young girls involved to continue the momentum of the #MeToo and #Time’sUp movements.
San Pedro, March 8, 2018. Photo by Brittany Murray, Daily Breeze/SCNG

Now, you may be wondering, how did Dana get ahold of approximately 800 shirts in less than a week? Well, a local apparel company, One Stone Apparel, offered to create all of these shirts for no cost. The shirts were given to students in their advisory, and they were required to wear them in order to attend the assembly.

The auditorium was decorated with balloon spirals on either side of the stage and guest speakers to tell their inspiring story. Tiffany Barnes, Lora King, Sherry Kuhn, and Yesenia Aguilar all told the stories of their very different lives and how they all thrived in their own way.

“I would love to do it next year, of course it all depends on the funding,” said Ms. Crow, a teacher at Dana Middle school. “I felt super empowered when I heard you guys coming in and you guys singing the songs. I was inspired.” “I think we need to start empowering young girls early in life.”

This day gives an opportunity for people to reflect on how women around the world have accomplished so much.This assembly was created to teach young girls that being a woman is something to take pride in, not to bury inside themselves.

International Women’s Day is a time for people of all ages to reflect on how far women’s rights have come, and to celebrate the success of all women. Now, more than ever, there has been a strong call to women’s rights actions with the #Time’sUp movement and the #MeToo uprising. Emerging from this revolution comes #PressforProgress, a movement that inspires young women to press forward and progress gender parity. International Women’s Day is to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievement of women. Dana has been lucky enough to be a part of this cause that helps encourage young women to press forward towards a better future for themselves.