About three years ago, Hillary Coombs and Makena Sage heard about Her Campus, an online community for college women written entirely by the nation’s top college journalists, and took a leap of faith to start a chapter here at Bryant. The two Her Campus Bryant founders met through their on-campus jobs as Research Assistants in the OPIR office.
Part of Bryant University’s plan for year 2020 is to increase female enrollment by to 50 percent. Her Campus became their contribution to help Bryant succeed in this plan. The idea behind starting a Her Campus chapter at Bryant was to create a new outlet for females on campus to express their feminine and creative sides. Both Sage and Coombs are firm believers in the importance of developing female leaders. Their hopes were that Her Campus Bryant would become the perfect community for women at Bryant to not only come together and meet, but also connect through the articles written.
The fruits of their labor can be seen today as Her Campus Bryant has become a very well-known organization on campus. The organization went from being just ten girls to now having over 60 members, and being one of the top chapters in the nation, also known as a “Pink Level” chapter. Hillary explains what it felt like to see her creation become a top chapter in the nation, “Attaining PINK Level Status is an amazing example of how great Her Campus has been for the Bryant University community. Our readers are through the roof and we have not stopped growing since the day we launched two years ago. Not only do I love seeing Her Campus Bryant succeed but the University as a whole has contributed to our growth and expansion.”
By serving as a creative outlet for Bryant’s female population, Her Campus allows girls to meet weekly and discuss what’s worth talking about for the week. This can include world news, fashion trends, sex related blogs and celebrity drama, the purpose being to allow girls to talk about, write about, and read about topics that really interest them.
The organization has hosted multiple awareness events, such as the screening of Girl Rising, a film that features the stories of 9 young women who have overcome struggle and actively participate in women’s rights movements. One year ago, on Valentine’s Day, Her Campus Bryant partnered up with Toby Simon, director of the Gertrude Meth Hochberg Women’s Center, to bring awareness of One Billion Rising, to Bryant. One Billion Rising is a global campaign to bring women everywhere together to put an end to women’s violence, rape and inequality. As a group, they stood in the rotunda, all wearing red, and put one finger up in the air.
As Her Campus Bryant prepares to celebrate its 2nd birthday this month, women faculty members on campus reflect on how bringing Her Campus to our community has made a difference at Bryant. Toby Simon, has been a great contributor to the organization over the past three years. When asked her opinion on the success of Her Campus at Bryant, Toby replied with, “Her Campus has been a wonderful addition to the women’s community at Bryant. The women who work diligently on the publication are incredible! I love the interactions that our Hochberg Women’s Center has with them as well as the collaborations on projects. We hope they’ll be around to celebrate another three years!”
Join Her Campus Bryant and Tupper for a joint birthday party in the rotunda on Thursday, February 27. Celebrate the hard work that has gone into this organization, and strides Bryant has taken to raise the percentage of female enrollment.