Sustainable Options for Youth: International Women's Day at McCallum HS

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

International Women's Day at McCallum HS

Thanks to McCallum HS students and staff for our good visit today. Because today is International Women's Day, we made that a part of our t-shirt challenge, and it was great to see a large banner that was displayed in the hallway on that theme also. We're sorry that we initially were set up in front of it, inadvertently blocking access to it. After moving to the other side of the hallway, we realized the banner was a place for students to hang out, add more women's names to the display and read what others had written there.

One of the questions on our t-shirt challenge was "Who is Jane McCallum?" The school is named for her husband, but she was a notable suffragette in Austin, was an education advocate, mother of 5 and then appointed Secretary of State. She was quite an influential woman in Austin's history!

We appreciated what students wrote on our "Who is one of your sheroes and why?" poster. Following are some of their responses. Also -- Penny Poll results showed more than the usual number of votes in the "Humanitarian Aid" category. Overall, 37% of the vote went for Education, 19% for Humanitarian Aid, 18% for Health Care, 16% for the Environment and 10% for the Military. I heard two students say that if people are educated fully, that helps solve other problems. We agree!