Over the last month, I’ve learned a lot. For starters, the month of March is Women’s History Month. Why was I unaware of this before? Throughout my years of public school, I am surprised that Women’s History Month was never mentioned. There were no special projects, movies or presentations in March about historical women leaders, those who fought for equality or led the way in discovery. Yet, I remember learning about the Industrial Revolution, the Civil War, and the Boston Tea Party: all important events in history yet no inclusion of the female gender.

This year, Nichols College celebrated Women’s History Month with two major events: March Forward and the Empowering Women in Business Conference.  March Forward took place on March 1^st and was a celebration of our female alumni and what they have accomplished while on campus as students and in the professional world. The day began with a continental breakfast and networking, followed by a catered lunch and an alumnae panel.

The Empowering Women in Business Conference was phenomenal, with over 200 people in attendance. The conference began with a vendor exhibition and included a number of female business owners, both alumni and otherwise. The event attracted great interest, especially since the keynote speaker was television personality Amy Roloff. Amy’s family is the center of the television show, “Little People, Big World,” which has been airing on TLC since 2006. She spoke about her entrepreneurial efforts, including creating her own Mango-Pumpkin Salsa and buying a family farm. Her best advice to young female professionals is to “be the entrepreneur of you, take ownership of you.”  Amy’s speech was followed by a series of workshops, including Starting Your Own Business and Planning Your Financial Future. A light dinner was served, and vendor stations were revisited as the evening wound down. Some vendors included: Ellie & Me, Express Yourself Gifts, Arbonne, It Works! Body Wraps, and Wear Lex. The Institute for Women’s Leadership did a fantastic job coordinating these events that celebrated women’s history for both the campus and local community.

Women’s History Week began in March of 1981 and expanded into Women’s History Month officially by 1995. The push to create it was enormous, with backing from former President Jimmy Carter, the National Women’s History Project, and hundreds of thousands of individual supporters.

Each year, a new theme is chosen to represent that month’s efforts. This past month’s theme was “Weaving the Stories of Women’s Lives.” This theme presents the opportunity to integrate women’s stories- individually and collectively- into the essential fabric of our nation’s history.

In a way, this is also the approach that the Institute for Women’s Leadership took. By inviting alumnae and asking them to speak of their experiences, wins and losses, and gained knowledge, they imparted their valuable stories and information for all to hear and learn from. One thing is for sure: as a woman, I will face different challenges in the workplace. I may face discrimination based on my gender, but I will not let that stop me. To succeed, I must be the entrepreneur of myself and face adversity head on.

In the future, I hope that we will educate young girls about Women’s History Month. It is sad that women’s history is only remembered and celebrated one month a year. The strides that women have accomplished date back thousands of years and the stories are few and far between. It is an important topic in history, and its importance needs to be shared more with young girls and boys to teach them that women have made strides toward making the world a better place just as men have.

Visit https://www.nwhp.org​ for more information about Women’s History Month.

Which class has the most Bison Pride? Well, this will be settled on April 12^th when the awards are handed out for BisonFest 2015! What is BisonFest, you ask? It’s what used to be called “The Bison Games” but has now been amped up to four days of competition. The event will start on Wednesday, April 8th and end on Saturday, April 11^th. Winners will be announced and awarded on Sunday, the 12th. Everyone should start warming up because it’s only one day away! However, no matter how much warming up you do, I know that the class of 2018 (my class) will finish victoriously!

The class who wins receives a $3,000 grand prize; second place, $2,000; third place, $1,000; and fourth place (most likely the seniors), $500. Also, if a staff member is on a team, the team receives extra points! Each student is allowed to participate in three different events. So go to the 3^rd floor of Fels to sign up before all of the spots are taken. Also, make sure you check your email for the list of events or visit the Center for Student Involvement. Videos of your team captains with Thunder are all over Nichols College social media accounts.  Make sure you hashtag #BisonFest15 when tweeting and posting any Instagram pictures.

Hope everyone is ready to get beaten by a bunch of freshmen because at the end of BisonFest, you will wish you were a part of the class of 2018! Good luck to whoever faces the freshmen team in any events; most likely you will run back to your dorm crying after we beat you.

As you can probably tell, I am extremely excited and cannot wait for BisonFest. It will be a great time to show my Bison pride and see how many of my fellow students show theirs. Even though my brothers, Sean and Patrick, always talk about the Bison Games, they won’t have experienced anything like this before! Good luck to all classes and may the odds be ever in your favor.

It’s that time of year again for the annual Elevator Speech Competition; they are entering their third year! The first year there were seven contestants, the second year there were 17 contestants, and they are hoping for even more contestants this year! Professor Luanne Westerling is the coordinator for the competition and Andrew Haas is the student moderator/emcee. Professor Westerling said that one day she would love for it to be a competition against different schools because Nichols is dedicated to developing leadership and communication skills in their students.

There are a few guidelines for the competition: students must be enrolled at Nichols College; they have to give a 60 second elevator speech in front of a panel of judges, points will be deducted if too long or too short; notes are not allowed at the podium with students; and lastly contestants must submit an outline or completed speech with the entry form. As for the competition itself, all speeches are videotaped and you must wear business attire.

This competition is a chance for students to step out of their comfort zones and participate in a challenging event. For me, I have had to step out of my comfort zone in my effective speaking class. I have never really had to stand in front of a class full of students and speak. However, I am starting to become more comfortable giving speeches. This class has given me the confidence to get in front of an audience and speak. When I gain even more trust and confidence in myself, I would love to participate in this competition.

The 3^rd Annual Elevator Speech Competition is being held on 4/7 at 7 pm in Daniels Auditorium. Hope to see you all there!