She craves adventure. She is an adventurer. A woman of Montana State University has a pioneering spirit, and she has chosen the mountains of Montana as her home away from home. Though what she calls home is more than what you’d expect. With only a backpack on her back, she travels not just to class, but into the wild.
A woman of Montana State University can be found skiing fresh lines, hiking up a grizzly bear’s terrain, and taking on rigorous STEM, agriculture, and business courses. She’s listening to George Strait (“All of My Exes Live in Texas”), with sewn patches on her Patagonia puffer, her hair crimped from the ice melting off her braids. She walks in a foot of snow, bootcuts over her Birkenstocks… and is that a Piña Colada Redbull? She embraces independence and autonomy, but for her home, she advocates for environmental rights, rural healthcare, and volunteers her time as a steward of the land. She is loud. She is bold. She is kind. I know her.
I know women who are fighting in male-dominated sectors of farming, dairy, and agriculture. I know artists who play strings on the weekends and, on weekdays, protect the wolves of Yellowstone. I know researchers who worked to put MSU and NASA’s new computer on the moon. I know cowgirls on the rodeo team who were invited to Washington, D.C., to represent the western way of life at the Presidential Inaugural Parade. I know female fishermen who bait their boyfriends’ hooks. I know a girl who dropped out of a helicopter to shred powder on her board. I know a single mother taking classes with a newborn. I also know the girl next to me in class, a first-generation college student, working her way through school.
The women of Montana State University represent the youth of what our generation is going to stand for. We are shaking standards, celebrating tradition, crowding tables, and honoring what we now call home – the last best place – Montana. Balancing the old and the new, Montana women are leading the future with a unique perspective that honors both as the way forward. To all my classmates, cowpokes, and Highwomen…this is for you.