Guest Speaker Session #1 with Reverend Sarah Pirtle

Today was such a successful turnout! Over 25 students showed up to our first meeting with Reverend Sarah Pirtle from the Traprock Center for Peace and Justice. In the first few minutes of the session, she had everyone sit in a circle, close their eyes, and think about a woman they respected the most. After five minutes of doing so, everyone got the chance to share who they were thinking about and what impact the person gave to them. Most students shared about their mothers, and Reverend Pirtle gave us time to write about them on paper afterwards. As someone who barely has the time to reflect on myself, it was a great opportunity for me to take the time to think about my loved ones and write about them. We then closed our meeting with a prayer Reverend Pirtle taught us–in ASL! I had always wanted to learn ASL, and it was so cool to do ASL while singing along to a prayer. Thank you so much Reverend Pirtle for organizing this amazing event!

- Meryl Gilbert, Board Member

It was so nice getting to meet everyone today in the Caswell Library with Reverend Sarah Pirtle! Before we came, Reverend Pirtle had already set up a place for all the objects she had brought from Traprock. The objects ranged from books about notable female figures in history to photographs depicting protests led by women. Each student was assigned to pick one object from that space, and to share about it to the circle after looking at or reading it over. I chose a poetry book written by Anne Yeomans, who joined us in the meeting with the Reverend. I was able to read her thoughts about organizing women circles like this and her opinions on how women stand in the modern world. Katie chose a long wooden flute owned by the Reverend and the Reverend taught her how to play some notes on her flute. It was so nice to see all the smiles in everyone’s faces and how excited the Reverend was as she was speaking. I can’t wait to see Anne Yeomans again for our second guest speaker session!

- Peggy Huang, Secretary