Making Leadership History
Three women students now hold leadership positions on campus, but none of them care about being women, that is.
While Yasmin Karimian (SGA president), Jen Kent (SGA vice president) and Gaby Arevalo (Retriever Weekly editor) care about the history they’ve made, they’re more interested in their work. The 2009-10 academic year marks the first time in UMBC history that three females hold these top campus positions at one time, including the first female duo in the SGA.
“While I think it’s wonderful that Yasmin, Jen and I are all women and minorities that isn’t what we’re known for,” said Arevalo. “We’re known for the positions we hold, not for our backgrounds or gender.”
Karimian and Kent actually had no idea they were the first female duo in SGA history until after turning in their applications to run. Both say more recent generations are different.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to have grown up in a generation where female leadership is encouraged, and the idea of gender equality is second nature,” says Kent.
All three women feel lucky to be at a school where it’s not uncommon for women and minorities to hold leadership positions. They realize it wasn’t always so common or easy in generations past.
“We take for granted the support we receive by being women and being able to hold these positions without skeptics surrounding us,” says Karimian. “That certainly was not the case for some of our predecessors, like the first female SGA President Lisa Dickerson.”
Dickerson gave a speech at the SGA Inauguration in Spring 2009 and noted the struggles she faced 32 years ago.
“Those struggles paved the way for women like us to be merely able to seek the positions of president and vice president,” says Karimian.
(8/28/09)
