Women’s National History month is a time for students to acknowledge the hard work and effort women have put in to get to reach where they are today.

This month is dedicated to women who have influenced people around the world. Efforts and motivations are being recognized this month for all women. Students around the school have their own female inspirations that they look up to.

U.S. History teacher Cynthia Hasley is a proud supporter of the National Women’s History Month and believes it is important to introduce it to her students. Hasley wants to emphasize that women are strong and work hard for their loved ones.

“March was made National History Month not too long ago, I remember that. I graduated from high school in 1973, so that’s the big decade of women getting rights and being treated equally. So I want to make sure that my students knew of their women’s history with the women throughout their lives,” Hasley said.

Hasley brings light to the subject by requiring her students to do a biography about important women that are a part of their lives.

“Sometimes you guys think that our lives don’t start until you grace us with your presence, but their mothers and grandmothers have their own history behind them. And also since I’m a history teacher, taking oral history and actually interviewing people, that’s a legitimate way of recording history. So [the students] have to interview this woman and take the information and create a one page bio for them,” Hasley said.

With this project the students are able to learn more about the people they love. Hasley shares that when sitting down with them that there are untold facts that never would have been shared if the questions were not asked.

“One was amazing because I believe it was a young man who interviewed his grandmother who had a full life here in Prince George but didn’t know how the family farm started. And it started when his grandparents got married right before his grandfather went off to World War II. The woman gets part of the paycheck, and he just gets a little bit over there. She did not use it to live on, she ‘socked’ his money away in a sock drawer and did things like laundry, seamstress work, and supported herself. He came back and they are happy and he’s goes, ‘Oh no. What are we going to do? We have nothing. How are we going to start our lives?’ She walked in and grabbed the money and that was the down payment to what is now the family farm,” Hasley said.

Hasley has her own influential women that she looks up to. Strong women can influence us all even those who are already strong and influential.

“There’s a lot of them: Abigail Adams, Dolly Madison, Sally Rider, women that have taken and gone beyond their comfort zone. There are women that raised money during the American Revolution that nobody knows their names, but they stepped out of what was comfortable to make a difference, to make a change to what was happening,” Hasley said.

Many women look up to the women who inspire them the most whether that be a friend or a relative. Hasley brings the attention to the students whether it be to their mother or a woman who has been their friend. Students can see these stories in A-wing.