On Friday, March 27, in the Barry-Hughes Performing Arts Center, Mount Carmel held its second annual Women’s Panel to discuss issues of gender through the perspectives of women faculty members. Ms. Samantha Lazzaro, Mrs. Kristina Luster, Mrs. Vanessa Miguez, Ms. Jennifer Ramirez, Mrs. Jennifer Smola, and Mrs. Valentina Sorescu volunteered to join the panel. The questions were created by the students in the Honors English 2 classes, and other classes were invited to watch in person or online.
The panel held during Women’s History Month was organized by Honors English 2 teacher Mr. Tim Baffoe ’00 who has focused the course in issues of masculinity and friendship
“I think it’s important for young men to have [the Women’s Panel],” Ms. Lazzaro said. “Some people don’t have a father figure or someone in their life that can explain the importance of treating women.”
Ms. Lazzaro said hearing advice from a teacher they know and respect helps students really understand why respect matters.
Mr. Baffoe said he started the panel last year because he could not teach students everything about women’s struggles. “Being able to hear directly from women who work in the places students spend most of their time resonates with them more,” he said. “Those are perspectives that I can’t give them.”
Students are able to see the difference between how they act and how they want to act, which makes the lessons more personal.
Mrs. Smola talked about some of the challenges of teaching boys. “Boys are going to make comments that they think are okay,” she said. “I think that’s the reason I like to stay in an all-boys school, to teach boys that they shouldn’t just forget how to speak.”
Mrs. Miguez told students during the Q&A to think about the kind of person they want to be. “You don’t necessarily approach how you treat a woman because of what you’re supposed to do, but because of the kind of man you want to be,” she said.
She explained that leading with respect, listening, and communicating your feelings are really important skills, not just with women, but with everyone.
Ms. Lazzaro said being respectful is key. “Just remember that’s someone’s daughter, someone’s granddaughter, someone’s sister, and hope that you would treat them how you would treat your mother,” she said.
Students said that the panel helps them realize behaviors they might not have noticed. “It opened my eyes to some stuff I might not have noticed before at Mount Carmel with sexism and the way the women teachers are treated,” sophomore James Weber said.
Other students said the discussion helped them better understand the perspectives shared by the teachers during the panel. “I thought the answers that were given were really respectful and gave people insight into things we didn’t have as much knowledge about,” sophomore Hunter Hawkins said.
At the end, the teachers were able to ask the students questions. Teachers said that hearing the students’ answers helped them understand how they can do better to help with any problems.
“I’m really thankful to all the women who volunteered to be on the panel,” Mr. Baffoe said. “I don’t think it’s any small task for them to get up in front of a room full of students and be honest about difficult subject matter that affects them, so I appreciate them.”
