Women’s History Month ended a month ago, and Michigan State University (MSU) did a lot for the entire month to uplift and showcase women and marginalized voices. Who are the masterminds behind this month of events? Many, many people. Students and staff alike joined together to create another memorable month of events, panels, and campaigns. Women’s Student Services at MSU led the month to its complete success. Dr. Heather Shea, Gabby Wahla, and Makenzie Josephine Morales were at the forefront of this endeavor, and they spoke about the successes and excitements of leading this successful month.
Dr. Heather Shea (she/hers)
Roles: Director of Women’s Student Services and Interim Director of the Gender and Sexuality Campus Center
Degrees: Undergraduate degree in a double major in Fine Art and Business from Colorado State University; Master’s degree in Student Affairs in Higher Education from Colorado State University; and Ph.D. in Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education from Michigan State University
Hometown: Parker, Colorado
Zodiac Sign: Leo
Instagram: @womensstudentsservicesmsu
Twitter: @heather_shea_
Dr. Heather Shea lives by the Audre Lorde quote “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” She advises incoming freshmen to “Go to lots of club meetings and find your community to make the giant campus feel smaller. The wonderful thing about MSU is that there are so many opportunities! You can continually branch out and find new places and people who are your communities.” This advice is definitely reflective of Dr. Shea’s freshman year to now. “I was the typical honors college/art nerd (in a lot of ways this hasn’t changed at all!)” Her favorite MSU memory is recording a podcast at Impact Radio.
Gabby Wahla (she/her)
Role: Assistant Director, Women’s Student Services
Degrees: B.A. in Arts and Humanities, and Bioethics, Humanity, and Society from Michigan State University (2017); and M.A. in Student Affairs and Administration from Michigan State University (2021)
Hometown: Rochester Hills, Michigan
Zodiac Sign: Gemini
Instagram: @gabbywahla and @womensstudentsservicesmsu
Instagram for Student Orgs Advised: @michstatewoco, @face.msu, and @msuwild
Gabby Wahla is constantly cheered up by “Chiquitita” by ABBA, and she states, “…it can be easy to be overwhelmed. Chiquitita reminds me of all the amazing people in my life that helps me grow from failures, pick myself back up, and jump to the next great thing.” The biggest change she has noticed in herself from her freshman year of undergrad to now is her confidence in who she is and in her plans for the future. She would give the advice to incoming freshmen that “…it is 100% ok to not know what you’re doing with your life. Change your major, meet new people, try a new club, and you’ll never know the ways it will inspire you.” Gabby has so many memories from her time at Michigan State including seeing Hamilton, going to her first hockey game, and meeting people that lived on her floor freshman year that are still close with her today!
Gabby is the lead for Women’s History Month where she facilitated all the planning meetings, worked with individual groups on executing their events, and planned the logistics for the bigger WSS events for March. Before taking the lead, Women’s History Month was very decentralized at MSU, and, in 2020, she states, “…I sought to bring the WHM group together to provide a collaborative space for the groups involved, as well as an easier way for students, staff, and faculty to access all the events they all were putting on.”
This experience brings many ideas of events that “we have so many that it would be physically impossible to have every event that we came up with as a committee.” She also questions why we limit all these ideas to one month stating, “I’m really looking forward to planning more events and carrying out some cool collaborative ideas we had during the planning process, and bring those to the MSU community outside of March too!” In April, Women’s Student Services and the Gender and Sexuality Campus Center are partnering for the Unconditional Love Fund 5K that is taking place on June 18th, 2022.
Overall, Gabby has learned a lot from this experience, especially how essential and inspiring student leaders are to the community. “All the students on the committee are so dedicated, hardworking, important, and amazing, and I feel so lucky to share space with them in this planning process.” She also wants to thank everyone on the Women’s History Month committee for all of the work they did, how smoothly it went, and the willingness for the team to work together. “I appreciate each and every person who played a role in this process, and I know the MSU community does too.”
Makenzie Josephine Morales (she/they)
Graduation Semester/Year: Spring 2023
Grad Program: Student Affairs Administration, M.A.
Hometown: Utica, Michigan
Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius
Instagrams: @makenzie_morales, @womensstudentsservicesmsu, and @msuwild
Makenzie lives by the quote “take the risk or lose the chance” and hopes to get it tattooed in the future because “I am a really indecisive person, and I am focusing on being more mindful and present.” The biggest change they have noticed in themself from their freshman year of undergrad to now is a lot. They state, “I am much more at peace, respectful of my personal boundaries, and confident… The biggest change is probably my understanding of myself and what I need to [do to] continue growing.” Their advice falls along these lines: get involved and explore yourself. Makenzie states, “You will learn so much about yourself through involvement and putting yourself out there!” Their memories at MSU have only begun as this is their first year here. “My favorite memory was probably performing at FemFest, a music festival put on in the Fall every year by Women’s Student Services.”
Having always been interested in advocacy work and learning from others, Makenzie loves that this month “gives us an opportunity to bring forward issues we are passionate about and bring them to life.” For Women’s History Month, Makenzie helped to organize the month, assisted in directing the overall planning, and worked on the promotion for the month. “In particular, I’ve been organizing the month’s keynote speaker, Gabby Rivera. I have also been assisting in the Wellness Fair, the letter-writing campaign, and LUNAFEST.”
As the graduate assistant for Women’s Student Services, Makenzie had been actively helping to plan Women’s History Month for a long time. “I work 20 hours a week in the office, and most of my time has been devoted to WHM.” They also worked with the two Women’s Student Services undergraduate interns, Gigi Shannon and Mariam Turkey, and they assisted in helping develop Gigi and Mariam’s events – the Wellness Fair and the Roundtable Talk. “…[they] have worked so hard on these events, and it has been an amazing experience to see them bring their ideas to fruition.”
Overall, Makenzie has learned a lot about how to organize events, create an impactful program on a college campus, and the importance of collaboration. “This experience has taught me more about the overall culture at MSU and what students need to feel supported. I personally have struggled with finding spaces where I feel fully accepted and included. This month allows me to seek out those spaces and feel included.”
Women’s History Month is not just for women but for everyone that faces gender-based oppression. It’s also for all those that are interested in learning more about the discrimination these groups face and how to be a better ally for them!
Author’s note: I chose to exclude the use of the asterisk in the discussion of women in women’s history month and women’s student services. Here are three sources by trans individuals and/or feminist scholars that explain the criticism of it. Source one. Source two. Source three. While I acknowledge the intent behind the asterisk, I chose to go without it. Please note that the criticism should be uplifting gender non-conforming voices as they are the ones affected by it, hence I linked these sources and did not only include my word.