On March 29th from 1st to 4th period, the Media Center was closed for a Women’s History Month presentation where two guest speakers, Gwen Crist and Delhia Mahaney, shared their stories to celebrate and acknowledge Women’s History Month while encouraging girls at Rocky.

This event took place with the help of Cultural Arms and Mr.Powell. There were four different speakers – two for 1st and 2nd periods and Gwen and Delhia for 3rd and 4th periods.

Both speakers’ talks centered around Rocky’s motto “Self, Purpose, Place.”

Speaking first, Gwen talked about her journey from a high school senior to a wife, mom, and trauma clinic nurse. She talked about the things she knew she liked and wanted and how each decision in her life centered around those.

When she was a senior she knew she liked community, and wanted to do something bigger than herself as well as work in a team. She went on to talk about how she bounced around majors and ended up checking people in at a doctor’s office. After a talk with the doctor, she realized that where she was heading did not match what she wanted so she went to nursing school.

After that, she signed a two-year contract at a hospital in the emergency department.

“I was in a team and doing something bigger than me.”

She said she finally found her place and worked there for ten years. She then talked about her kids and how she had “joy in raising children,” so for her last two years at the hospital she bounced around different jobs to have a schedule where she could see her kids.

She then talked about COVID and how she became a trauma nurse. She ended by going back to her goals and how she met every one of them and more.

Delhia Mahaney, the other speaker, also talked about Self, Purpose, Place. Taking quotes from Audre Lorde, she talked about how, as a kid, she felt pushed down and different. She encouraged women to hype each other up instead of tearing each other down. She talked about how finding yourself is important and talked about some of her own accomplishments that help women. She established a physicality for women’s gymnastics in Alamosa, Colorado.

“Be proud of being yourself” was her ending statement. Encouraging women to be bold and strong.

Throughout the presentation, Mr. Powell introduced the speakers and then posed questions. One student from third period responded. She talked to Gwen about how her parents are both doctors and she told Gwen that her kids will appreciate the time she took to see her kids.

Mr.Powell ended with a question about gender stereotypes and how both women pushed past them. Delhia talked about being loud for people to hear her and Gwen explained how she is seeing her male-dominated field become more level.

To end the presentation, Mr. Powell challenged the students to talk to new people and get to know others.