International Women’s Day – Impactful Women at Central

*Edited 3/8 to reflect correctly quoting the previous Editor-In-Chief*

International Women’s Day is observed every year on March 8th. This year we’re coming together to celebrate the impactful women we see in our everyday lives. There are so many women who affect our student body and our school, that may go unnoticed. 

Freshman Margo Gengler said that Spanish teacher Mrs.Thompson has made the biggest impact on her day to day life out of all the women at Central. “I think she really cares about her work and is really dedicated to making sure students succeed,” Gengler said she shows it in a lot of different ways. 

“She’s always available for advisories and after school and making sure kids know that they can come. She injects a lot of the culture into our classroom. She uses lots of different styles of teaching, for people who learn differently. She cares a lot about work ethic, and teaches us life skills that come into all my other classes, which is so helpful.” 

As you can see, an impactful woman doesn’t have to mean someone with a lot of power, it’s also someone who makes a difference day to day. Gengler brought up a moment that stood out to her, “When Senora performed an Aztec wedding of two kids in our class that we got to vote on, it was really fun, but it also helped me understand what was going on in our book.” 

Senior Janani Pattabi became an editor of the A&E section of The Chronicle in only a couple of months, and is now Editor-In-Chief. “When the prior Editor-In-Chief who worked on High School Confidential graduated, she recommended me for the job. After a few months of working on that this year, my editor asked if I wanted to work on their home and life magazine and write a few articles in that.”

Pattabi plans to pursue journalism and creative writing in college, even though she’s already accomplished in the journalism field but feels like she owes some of it to Ms. Dittmer, an old English teacher at Central. “I looked up to her so much, as a writer and as a positive presence. I strive to be at her standards and make The Chronicle a really welcoming place.” 

English teacher Ms.Smith, holds herself to the same standard, and said she likes to teach things that might be uncomfortable and “be a voice for students in [her] classroom that can’t speak for themselves yet.” 

Although Smith only started teaching at Central this year, she’s already made very strong connections. “As women we find ourselves trying to take up less space and I think it has to come from other women to teach women that you don’t need to do those things, you can be loud and should be loud. That doesn’t mean you’re bossy or dramatic or emotional.”

Smith says one way she teaches this is by having relationships with everyone. “My personality is not the same as the person next to me. You have to make room for everyone, I look at every person individually, and wonder how I can help them.”

Senior Grace Courtney also cares about helping others. She’s president of the Disability Awareness Club, Vice President of the Spanish Honors Society, captain of the varsity softball team, and a member of Best Buddies, Interact Club, and National Honors Society.

Courtney obviously keeps herself busy, but her current focus is on the Disability Awareness Club. “This year I’ve really committed myself to expanding the Disability Awareness Club and helping the school become more welcoming to people with both physical and mental disabilities. I feel like I’ve succeeded already and the school year is still far from over.” 

Courtney has made waves in the Disability Awareness Club and has a lot of plans set in place. “The main goal I wanted to accomplish was to get the U of I Wheelchair Basketball team to somehow come to central. Originally I hoped to have a couple of them come and do a panel for the school, but I’ve gone even further and now on April 20th, after school, their team is going to come and do a demonstration for the school and community!” 

Every woman mentioned has made changes in the school, day to day, by being constantly kind, running a club, or standing up for and caring for others. 

“I hope that once I leave Central, people still know who I am, not because of the grades I got or who I hung out with, but because of how I treated people and what I’ve done to improve the school community,” Courtney said.