Amidst Women’s History Month, female administrators and students at Bridgeland alike reflect on women’s contributions to society and the promise they show for advancing gender equality.

The month of March is designated annually as a time to commemorate and celebrate the role women possess in American history. Director of Instruction Traci Underwood says setting aside time to honor women’s accomplishments and journey is critical to fostering an inclusive environment.

“I feel like it’s important to understand our history as a whole,” Underwood said. “Sometimes, women’s history can be lost in the bigger scope of history. So, there’s a lot of accomplishments that in the past might not have been acknowledged or fully given credit to the people [who] were behind the scenes…When we take the opportunity to really look and see what women from this time and past times accomplished, it’s really important. It helps everybody understand that each person can be a part of that story.”

As an all-around competitive school, Bridgeland bolsters leadership across the entire campus. Associate Principal Yolonda Sneed says young women represent a large chunk of that strong sense of initiative due to the school’s successful cultivation of valiance in its female students. 

“We have a lot of female leaders [of] different organizations,” Sneed said. “They’re being very productive leading their organization. They are taking the initiative and just helping other students. I think they’re doing a great job, and Bridgeland is doing a great job in molding great female leaders.”

Students at Bridgeland are encouraged to spark change due to the administration’s consistent support, especially female students. Charleigh Thomas, co-captain of the girls’ basketball team and news and sports editor of The Bridge, feels the school’s nurturing of their female students’ ambitions makes the future look promising.

“The way that women here at Bridgeland specifically are able to start clubs and make a voice for themselves just shows what kind of leadership we’re going to have,” Thomas said.

Women in the past have paved the way for the women of today and tomorrow, thus making Women’s History Month an occurrence to appreciate. Camile Stites, choir member and future government major at The University of Texas at Austin, feels recognition for the strides women have made and continue to make is the key to ensuring further fairness in the country’s conduct.

“Seeing women, myself included, take on these roles to make and implement such big changes in society at so many different levels is not only so cool to see how far we’ve come but also important,” Stites said. “To be able to implement this diverse array of perspectives is going to do so much for this world.”