There is a popular sticker gracing the bumpers of cars which reads: “Women who behave themselves do not make history.”  The second-grade students in both Mrs. Springmeyers’ and Ms. Mauro’s classes proved that point during the Women in History month assembly on Friday, March 31, 2006. The assembly was the culmination of a month-long project which included researching famous women, creating a doll of the famous woman in appropriate costume, and developing a speech to be delivered at the assembly.

The facts the students found about their famous women were fascinating, such as, what athlete created, according to Life magazine, the most important fashion statement of the time?  Which Olympic medalist is now a law student? Who was killed by poachers? Who requested a boy’s sled instead of a girl’s sled for Christmas? Who was considered to be a female Thomas Edison? (See answers at the end of the story.)

The assembly was dedicated to the “Mother of Civil Rights,” Rosa Parks and notable women like Mia Hamm, Sybill Ludington, Kay Cottee, Sally Ride, Indira Ghandi and Babe Didrikson were profiled. The students stood at the microphone and passionately read about their chosen figure while a picture of their doll was projected behind them.

At the conclusion of the speeches, Mrs. Kehoe’s fourth-grade class joined their younger colleagues and simultaneously sang and signed “She’s just not a pretty face,” by Shania Twain.

Answers to the questions:

1. Figure skater Dorothy Hamill’s famous wedge hairstyle was called a major fashion statement by Life magazine.

2. Former gymnast Shannon Miller is a second year law student.

3. Dian Fossey was thought to have been killed by a poacher while protecting the gorilla population in Africa.

4. Amelia Earheart discovered her love of speed the year she received a boy’s snow sled for Christmas.

5. Margaret Knight invented the stop-motion device that promoted safety for workers and was considered by her contemporaries to be a “female Thomas Edison.”



© 2006 The Pingry School