Laura Galvan, a theater film junior, recalls her mother’s courage when she was growing up.
“I always looked up to her because she always pushed her fears aside and takes care of me,” Galvan said.
Galvan explained how back when she and her family were living on a ranch, her mother did this.
“Whenever there was anything that was wrong, for example … there was a snake once in the house, and she got us all out … and she stayed there and she took out the snake,” she said.
Galvan asked her mother, “Why aren’t you scared of snakes?”
Her mother explained she was scared but set her fears aside.
Galvan is among the women at UTRGV who are remembering their mothers and other female role models during Women’s History Month.
“My female role model, it would have to be my mom,” said Vanessa Sandoval, program coordinator for Leadership and Social Change.
The Rider asked female students who their female role models were.
“If there is a female role model that I look up to, it would be Frida Kahlo,” said Yaritza Marin, a Mexican American studies sophomore. “Not only because it’s into my major but, because of the way she was, and the way she used the obstacles in her life to kind of prove that she wasn’t a damsel in distress.”
Other UTRGV students declared their mother as their female role model.
“My mom is my role model,” English senior Alyssa Alvarado said. “… She had me very young and she didn’t let her age stop her, and … she’s currently going for her doctorate’s.”
Alvarado said her mother did everything she could to provide for her and never gave up her dream of achieving a higher education.
Scarlett Basurto, an anthropology senior, also agreed her mom is her role model.
“She’s a single mom,” Basurto said. “She provided for all three of my sisters. She didn’t have the privilege to go to school, but she made the ability for us to keep on going and striving.”
UTRGV will host a series of events in observance of Women’s History Month. The events will recognize the achievements accomplished by women throughout history and embrace cultural differences.
The majority of the events are in partnership between Student Services and the International Admissions Office, Sandoval said.
The university began the festivities March 9 with the International Women’s Day Celebration. The event recognized several different international professors and awarded an international student with a $1,000 scholarship.
Both departments hosted the celebration in Salón Cassia on the Brownsville campus.
The University Library on the Brownsville campus is also hosting a women’s exhibit.
The next upcoming event, Talk About it S’more, is scheduled to take place from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday in the Main Courtyard on the Brownsville campus and in the University Center lobby on the Edinburg campus.
“It’s a cultural chat where we invite either a speaker or professor,” Sandoval said. “In Brownsville, we are going to have a professor come and speak about a topic in regards to Women’s History Month.”
Attendees can expect to make and eat s’mores while engaging in open conversations about whatever the topic may be.
The speaker in Brownsville will be history Associate Professor Amy Hay, whose areas of expertise include American women/gender history, according to her UTRGV faculty profile.
Student Involvement will continue to oversee awareness months. The department will host cultural chats twice a month and screening cultural movie series which relate to the month’s theme.
On Friday, the Gender and Women’s Studies Program will host a lecture, titled “Humanizando la Deportación,” from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in Education Complex 1.102 in Edinburg.
The event is a collaboration between the gender studies program and the department of Spanish and Portuguese from the University of California at Davis and will focus on the issues of femininity and masculinity.
Robert McKee Irwin from UC Davis will speak at the event, which will showcase a digital storytelling project of nearly 50 (and counting) personal stories about deportation, according to the event flyer.
John Goins, a history lecturer, will also show the documentary “Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria” at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in ELABN 101. The film is about transgenders and drag queens who fought back against police harassment in San Francisco during the 1960s, according to IMDB.
Lastly, the Cultural Movie Services will show “Woman in Gold” from 7 to 9 p.m. March 29 in Salón Cassia in Brownsville and in the PlainsCapital Bank Theater in Edinburg.
