Alyssa Sterner ‘24
March is Women’s History Month, a time spent recognizing female struggles and accomplishments, as well as reflecting on the evolution and progress society has made in terms of taking strides to promote and embrace gender equality. The 2022 Women’s History Month theme is “Providing Healing and Promoting Hope.” This is in reference to womens’ role as healers throughout history, and hope for the potential improvements in future generations.
Given Episcopal’s history of initially being an all-boys school, Women’s History Month offers an avenue for the community to not only recognize the development of women in society, but also reflect on how the school transitioned to co-education.
Episcopal was founded in 1785, with female admission nearly 200 years later in 1974. Kimberly Farrell ‘84, a member of the first co-ed graduating class, comments, “I think there were only about two girls on the Merion campus in my grade the second year that we had girls, but I went to the Devon campus.” She mentioned that with this limited number of female students, “they [the school] didn’t quite know what to do with us with sports sometimes, so we played all kinds of sports.”
EA’s evolution of female athletes has prospered since 1974. High school competitors have had the opportunity to break records with impressive stats, including current female athlete Saige Forbes ‘24, who has broken several school records such as the long jump, 200 meter indoor, and the 60 meter.
Despite vast improvements, some female athletes feel there is more progress that is needed. Julianna Yates ‘24 comments, “As a female basketball player, I feel the boys are prioritized for using the main gym. For example, it often happens where a lot of teams have a game and the freshman boys team uses the main court, while the JV higher grade and skill level team had to squeeze into the fieldhouse.”
Laila Benson ‘24 does not share the same view. She says, “Students and teachers are so supportive of all the sports teams, and I always see people I know in the stands at every game. The field hockey and soccer games on Agnes Irwin Day are equally as exciting and nail biting as the big football game on Haverford Day, and everyone watches with hope for the teams.”
In addition to athletics, girls have shaped EA academically through co-education. Lauren Williams ‘24 states, “I like being in the classroom with both boys and girls because they both have an equally influential presence when generating ideas and providing explanations that contribute to my learning.”
However, Sabrina Burnetta ‘23 disagrees. Having experienced girls-only education while attending AIS, she responds that, “academically, being in an all girls environment really reduced the pressure in the classroom in terms of asking questions, being outspoken.”
Despite this, co-education can offer other benefits besides a different academic environment. Burnetta adds, “Friendship-wise and socially, I prefer co-education.”
There are numerous opportunities at EA for female students to feel more comfortable and get involved in their passions. For example, Ashley Tang ‘22 runs the Girls in STEM Club which has around 60 members. She explains, “The role of the club is to create a safe, supportive, space for girls that want to pursue STEM and encourage them to do so, and introduce them to different parts of STEM through various activities and speakers from the fields as well as EA alumni.”
Tang addresses the need for the club, remarking, “In my opinion, while it is getting better, women in STEM are still pretty under-represented, so I think Girls in STEM Club is important because it promotes women in STEM and is aimed at empowering girls that are interested in STEM to actually pursue it.”
EA’s Computer Department has also been dedicated to inspiring and increasing the female student body to become involved in computer science-related classes. Shannon Crowley, Upper School Computer Science Teacher, explains, “We were able to grow the female enrollment in computer science classes because we have done a lot more outreach to the eighth grade girls who are eligible via sending emails and keeping their advisors informed. We also came up with a list of all the girls who have taken the introductory comp-sci class and to make more personal connections with them and encourage them to take another secondary class beyond their requirements.”
The CS Department has recently received an award for their efforts. Crowley remarks, “We did get the award [the 2021 AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award] for having a higher enrollment in AP CSA of females than males. The previous year we got the same award, but for AP CSP, which means that a lot of the girls who took that class went on to take CSA. It was great to see that continuum.”
Since the first co-ed class, EA has fostered a community where female athletes and scholars can thrive. Kat Barber ‘23 recently won the NCWIT award for her accomplishments in Computer Science“Having an encouraging computer science community at EA is really incredible. EA’s ‘Girl’s in STEM Club’ has definitely contributed to this growing support by having speakers and opening the discussion about being a woman in STEM. Also, being able to participate in opportunities like the NCWIT award–which highlights the work in computer science do–is really cool to be a part of. And I learned about NCWIT through Girls in STEM.”
Photo Courtesy of Ashley Kennedy