Year: Junior
Majors: Media arts and design and sociology
Her Campus JMU: What has your JMU experience been like so far?
Jen: My JMU experience so far has been “one crazy beautiful ride,” to be cliché. It has had a fair share of ups and downs but since coming to college I have learned more about myself than I ever thought would be possible. I had the normal dose of homesickness, changed my major three times, and took a while to find my niche on campus but once I did everything else seemed to really fall into place.
HC: Besides Her Campus, what else are you involved in?
J: I am a sister of Alpha Sigma Tau at JMU, and last year I served as the chapter historian. I also work as a student caller at Madison Connection, which is one of the main avenues through which JMU raises money through our alumni. I think it is really important to advocate for our alumni to give back to JMU, so that the Madison experience remains strong.
HC: What is the importance of student or alumni giving to JMU?
J: The stats show that 97 percent of JMU Alumni report that they loved their time here at JMU, yet only 7 percent of these people are giving back any financial gifts. This is the lowest rate of any university in Virginia, yet we are one of the most beloved schools. There is definitely a disconnect, and when only 25 percent of the school’s funding is coming from the state, we have a huge disparity on campus of where we are getting our funding and how we are able to operate. You don’t have to donate hundreds of dollars to give back to JMU, $10 a year still counts as a contribution and I’m pretty sure everyone had $10 lying around. We really want to see increased participation so that we can help JMU stay strong in the years to come, including funding our Madison Forever Scholarship and Vision funds! Definitely start giving today.
HC: So speaking of advocating, could you explain your work with feminism and social advocacy on campus?
J: Sure! I started out being very interested in my sociology classes and wanting to find a way to take what I was learning and apply it in a more direct way on campus. I saw a lot of inequality and sexism going on among different organizations, the media we are consuming as students and in a lot of the statistics I’ve heard since coming to school. It was especially alarming to me that one in four female college students will experience a completed or attempted sexual assault by the time they graduate college. So I went to my adviser, Matt Ezzel, and asked how I could further my understanding and knowledge.
I started doing research on a full spectrum of women’s issues but kept getting drawn back to the sexual assault stats and how our culture is shaped by the threat of men’s violence against women. A documentary that had a huge impact on me was “Miss Representation.” Seriously, go watch it. I knew I wanted to do something to raise awareness on campus and started reaching out to distinguished speakers on the topic. By a pure stroke of luck, Jennifer Baumgardner, reached out to me and was interested in coming to campus. The rest, as they say, was “HerStory.”
HC: What is the purpose of the first annual HerStory week at JMU and what are your hopes for the future?
J: HerStory is an idea that started out as one night and one event, but then I realized that we have this wonderful medium of information sharing – Her Campus JMU – at our fingertips so why not use it to spread messages of love, acceptance and female empowerment? HerStory week is aimed so that women at JMU have the opportunity to tell their personal stories about life as a woman, whether that be struggles in the career world, with body image, etc. We want to hear your story, as cheesy as that sounds, and we want to highlight some of the ways that feminism and activism can empower and help our community. This week is all about challenging our readers and being strong role models for the rest of campus – hopefully! I’m hoping that this event expands and continues next year and for years to come! Enjoy the week and remember that YOU ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL! In the famous words of The Spice Girls, “Girl power!”