WILL members, Kaitlyn Nickerson, Brianna Dudley, Sophia Arena and Nidia Jimenez-Barrios, proudly display the many books they chose to celebrate Women’s History Month.
Women in Learning and Leadership (WILL) celebrated Women’s History Month by setting up displays in Brookdale’s Bankier Library to showcase outstanding books written by remarkable and talented women authors.
Nidia Jimenez-Barrios, 20, a psychology major from Long Branch and a co-founder of the WILL Academic Program Alumni Advisory Board, said the idea for the project began last fall at a WILL meeting when Florensa Amaral Saneti suggested WILL do a library book display for Women’s History Month.
A collaboration with WEST (Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology) helped the group choose STEM books for the display mix.
WILL’s secretary, Kaitlyn Nickerson, 19, a history major from Middletown, researched the availability of books in the library’s databases and helped pull together the current choices on display.
Working with Bankier Librarian Amy Clark, the clubs narrowed down the titles that would be chosen. “Amy showed us where our displays would go and how many books would fit in each section,” said Sophia Arena, 20, a psychology major from Middletown and a co-founder of the WILL Academic Program Alumni Advisory Board.
“At the top of the stairs of the library, we have the fiction section, then if you go to the right towards the PTK lounge, we have the feminist classics/non-fiction section, and downstairs by the donation wall is the WEST display,” Arena explained.
“I decided to participate in this project because I love reading during my free time,” said Jimenez-Barrios. “I was excited to showcase women authors and women-centered stories and added my favorite books, ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley and ‘Pandora’s Jar: Women in the Greek Myths’ by Natalie Haynes. I also read the description of available books and added those that I found fascinating.”
“I had a blast putting the display together,” Arena said. “The only challenging part about this process was narrowing down our book list. Our display sections fit around 60 books in total, and our list had approximately 98 books.”
Women’s History Month dates back to 1978 in Santa Rosa California. Originally planned as a “Women’s History Week” celebration during the first week of March to correspond with International Women’s Day. Local advocates then formed the National Women’s History Alliance to share women’s achievements. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued a proclamation recognizing National Women’s History Week.
In 1987, Congress declared March as National Women’s History Month in perpetuity. The holiday month honors the extraordinary achievements of American Women.
This year, International Women’s Day is Friday, March 8, and the theme is “Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.”
Other books in the large display of books include “Hidden Figures” by Margot Lee Shetterly, telling the story of the brilliant Black female mathematicians hired by NASA during the space race, and “Broad Band” by Claire L. Evans, the untold story of the women who made the Internet. All students are invited to borrow any of these fascinating books in the display from the library.
