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- WGS 101
Women's & Gender Studies Program
Wake Forest University
Tribble Hall, A106A
P.O. Box 7365
Winston-Salem, NC 27109
Phone: 336-758-3758
Fax: 336-758-4143
wgs@wfu.edu
WGS 101 Student Testimonies
“Whether it is lending support to a student’s leadership in PREPARE, offering students the opportunity to learn self-defense through RAD, establishing lasting relationships with faculty members, or helping students gain an appreciation for a feminist outlook, the WGS program undoubtedly prepares students as they enter the real world.”
Alex Azzara '11“During the opening class, when describing the expectations of the essays, we were instructed to draw upon our previous experiences in the classroom as they pertain to each particular event. However, being a physics and mathematics major, drawing upon classroom ideas wasn’t necessarily applicable to the events I attended. While particularly challenging, it ended up being a blessing. I never thought I’d be able to appreciate the events as much as a student of sociology, psychology, or women and gender studies major. However, I think I got more out of this class than the other majors probably did. Not only did I have to reflect critically and analytically, but I had to learn how to interpret the events.”
Ashley Carlton '11“What I particularly liked about this course was the ability to not only inform its students of the current issues and struggles in women and gender studies, but also to provide an outlet for self-growth. I have discussed this with some of my classmates and each of them has said that they have walked away from an event feeling more passionate about a topic. The ability of a talk, documentary, or discussion to cause an individual to become active in spreading the message and issues to other people is something that not many classes at Wake Forest can do. As students are given many opportunities to go abroad or to become active in the community, it is important that there are seminars and informative events that can jumpstart the motivation to make change and to go see what else goes on in the world.”
Jessica Dalrymple '11“I can definitely say that WGS 101 has been one of the most influential classes that I have taken at Wake Forest University. I never expected to take so much from a class that only lasted one semester. From women and the military, to rape and other forms of sexual assault, I have learned so much about issues of sexism, racism, and many other inequalities that are present throughout our country today.”
Cortney S. Fallen '10“This class made me step outside my comfort zone to analyze the speeches from different and more foreign concepts than I had previously been accustomed to.”
Paige Fitzgerald '09“The first event that I attended was the Elixir of Love production by the North Carolina School of the Arts in downtown Winston-Salem. At that point early in the semester, I had not been given the chance to meet many people, especially not those outside of my grade. I was incredibly excited when I got an email from a senior that I sat beside in the first WGS meeting who I had met a few times first semester, but did not know very well. She was inviting me to go get lunch downtown before seeing The Elixir of Love with her and another senior. Of course I accepted the invitation and had a lovely day with the two of them off campus. It did not take me long to realize that this course was going to be a wonderful way for me to both form new friendships and to go off campus.
Paige Givner '12“Some of my expectation from this course was, ‘it’s going to be easy.’ Well, when push comes to shove – it wasn’t easy at all. Since I played football I had time constraints on the events I wanted to attend. I told myself that I would plan everything out ahead of time and take care of it from there. Sometimes when the event came up I wasn’t able to attend and I had to find something else to take its place. I also kept in my mind that I would go in this experience with an open mind and heart. Also, by allowing myself to do that, I became a member of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance while attending my first event of the semester.”
Dennis Godfrey“The most important thing that I learned from this course is to be open minded and accepting of new events and situations. It forced me to go out of my comfort zone and attend events that I would have otherwise never gone to. My stereotypes about ‘feminism’ and ‘feminist’ were proved incorrect by the FMLA meetings and other events that I attended. My eyes were opened to the harsh reality of our society and the scrutiny that minorities and females have to endure all over the world. Thos course made me recognize so many important issues that I had overlooked previously. I feel like it has taught me to be more accepting of different ideologies and how to apply critical thinking to cultural events and my other classes.”
Logan Hanby '11“An event that really stood out to me was the fourth one I attended – the screening of “Slim Hopes” in the Benson University Center on campus. Slim Hopes is a documentary about the way advertising causes eating disorders in young women. Although I am on the slender side, I have never had a problem with any eating disorders so attending this event was a very different experience. I was oblivious to the fact that eating disorders are a very common thing in today’s society….This particular event has prompted me to talk to President Hatch about having a mandatory Health and Body Image seminar in which all incoming freshmen should attend. If everyone were to attend this seminar, it could change the perspective of many on what the ideal body image should be.”
Linea Johnson '12“I believe the event I attended as a result of this course that I enjoyed the most was a screening of the documentary entitled A Jihad for Love. The documentary focused on the lives of various homosexual Muslims and their struggle to reconcile their homosexual lifestyle with their Islamic religion. I believe this would have been the type of event that I may not have attended if not for this course; I most likely would have seen it advertised and been very interested in it, buy may have missed out on it because of other commitments or sheer forgetfulness….I found this event to have the most profound effect on my views on the equality amongst people of different sexual orientations.”
Kirsten Lenihan '10“It is easy to go through the same routine each day, but this class pushed me to explore new places. I am very grateful I was urged to attend a theatre production and visit the art gallery. They are both places I really enjoyed and I will now take advantage of them while at Wake Forest.”
Laura Ormson '10“Being a science major and minor, my writing skills have slowly degenerated over the years and turned into scientific jargon. By taking this course, I have had the opportunity to not only work on my writing skills, but actually develop them in a manner useful for a student for years to come in relation to any subject matter.”
Hana Pantuso '10“I found out about this course last semester when a good friend of mine was taking it. I noticed she was always talking about events that she was going to and how interesting they were….Critical thinking was the first skill I learned in this course. It is easy to go to an event and look at it as entertainment, without trying to get something in particular out of it. I learned quickly that if I was going to have to write about an event, I needed to look a little bit deeper into what I was seeing.”
Kim Vos '11“After I saw Jihad for Love I felt as thought I was finally getting a grasp on the joy, and sometimes angst, that people feel when they are studying gender.”
Chelsea Raab '11“Mary Niepold’s work with Nyanya Project in Africa was very inspirational to me, as well as relevant to the area in which I wish to work some day. While I would like to pursue something similar with women in the United States, it is still a model I can look at as I work towards my goal. I think it was especially important for those who attended to hear the message that it is not all about the money you can earn, but rather about pursuing something for the greater good, and something you are passionate about.”
Madeline Simpson '09“Before signing up for Window of Women and Gender Studies, I did a little research on the website to see what it was all about. I noticed the mission statement on the website stated that the class was, “An opportunity to experience and analytically reflect in writing on the diverse cultural and intellectual life of Wake Forest.” Now, after taking the class and truly enjoying it, I think that this statement needs to be revised. It needs to not only include the cultural and intellectual life of Wake Forest, but also the diverse cultural happenings all over the world, as this is what we were exposed to throughout the semester.”
Jessica Dalrymple '11“My first event write-up was not accepted because it was more of a summary. At first, I was a little taken aback, but then with the feedback and comments I was able to analyze the film more closely and really consider how it affects my life. This first write-up the reminded me each time I was reflecting on an event about the larger ramifications and how they were truly related to my life.”
Tracy Still '09“The events that I attended were all very engaging and well worth attending. It is actually somewhat disappointing that I waited for my senior spring to take this class because now I feel as though I have missed out on a great aspect of Wake Forest because I have neglected to go to many of these cultural events that now seem to be all over campus.”
Chris Tegeler '09“I expect that in the following semester I will attend more events on campus than I have in the past, because I did not know before how much really went on. I will recommend this course to my friends because I think it is one that everyone should take before they graduate. Maybe in the future it will be a required course.”
Kim Vos '11“I consider myself an educated, open-minded person. However, even though I’ve seen the t-shirts, buttons, etc., that read ‘this is what a feminist looks like’ I must admit that I had a very stereotypical image of what a feminist was and what any events in the WGS department would be like. I expected to be inundated with ‘liberal propaganda’ that blamed men, the rich, the right and capitalism at every opportunity. I am very happy that these expectations were not met!
Renee Walker '09“WGS 101 helped me become a more critical thinker. I was able to apply perspectives in unique ways to the events. Unlike most college courses, this course was not about learning new material out of a textbook. This course was about attending events, thinking critically about them, and applying perspectives and knowledge from other courses to the critiques.”
Heather Weygant '09“I found that many of the events challenged my comfort zone and brought me out of what can become a state of unawareness within the small Wake Forest campus….I would recommend the course to anyone who wishes to be exposed to relevant issues, and who seeks opportunities beyond the classroom to think critically.”
Abigail Woodbury '11“When coming into this class I really had no view other than that of my own. I did not know how to look outside the realm of my own consciousness. I was caught up in my own upbringing and couldn’t look beyond my culture, my own preconceived ideas, and generally everything that made up ‘me.’ It seemed that I was so contained in ‘I’ that my knowledge of the outside world was limited and belittled. I thought and firmly believed that by reading the newspaper and occasionally a novel or two that I was opening my eyes to the troubles of the real world; little did I know. After one semester of this interesting, enthusing, and culturally and mentally expanding course, I have been introduced to areas of the world and knowledge which otherwise would have been left untapped. The experiences, seminars, and true life testimonies that I have been honored to witness over the last couple of months have truly opened my eyes to a whole new world.”
Daniel Wenzel '12
