Mrs. Van Pilsum

By Ben Sosin

Q: Who is your favorite woman in history and why?

(this is not verbatim, nor are these answers from Van Pilsum’s perspective)

The first answer involves activists. Their actions directly impacted history and the progress of women in society along with other persecuted sects of society.

A: All of the women who worked so hard for the progress of civil rights. Their names are unknown to the public, yet they were fighting for their own rights and the rights for future women. It was this collective woman that drove the Civil Rights movement, and the fact that each woman contributed almost anonymously is in a way noble. One specific woman is Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a woman who spoke for women’s rights.

The following answers are artists. Their actions are not as direct as the activists, but they still impacted society in their own way.

A: Virginia Woolf, author of A Room of One’s own. This story perpetuates the idea that if women don’t have their own space, their own freedom, they can’t be a creator, literally and metaphorically.

Mr. Van Dyke

By Bastien Ibri

Q: Who is your favorite woman in history and why?

A: Hypatia. She was the head of the Library of Alexandria, and was one of the mothers of mathematics. She also was among the first martyrs for knowledge.

Q: If you were Hypatia, would you have died to defend knowledge?

A: I think there is something beyond myself.

Mr. Erickson

By Anna Weber

1.  If you could be any woman in history, which woman would you want to be?

Lucille Ball

2. Name a woman from history that you think could beat you in a debate?

Margaret Thatcher

3. Who is the most inspirational woman that you have learned about?

Helen Keller

4. If you could make one woman (from any time period) the first woman president of the United States, which woman would it be?

Mother Theresa *beside my mom or grandma

5. Looking at the women in society today, who do you think most shaped, or influenced, the way woman act today?

I don’t think there is just one.  I look at a number of leaders that have influenced.  There is even a stronger need to have more female leaders.