Students and faculty performed poems and speeches from historical and contemporary women at a Women’s History Month event on Tuesday.

Communications professors April Copes and Haley Draper organized the event, Soapbox Sisters, where participants performed speeches and poems by notable women throughout history including Maya Angelou, Audre Lorde and Hillary Clinton. Some students performed original poems. 

“Something [like Soapbox Sisters] that’s inspiring and encouraging for women is super necessary and important,” second-year transfer studies student Alexia Perry, a performer at the event, said. “But for all different groups of people, just getting together to support one another and uplift each other. We need more of that in all areas.”

Soapbox Sisters is hosted every year by the Communications Department. This year’s performance was the first time it was held in person since the pandemic began.

Perry and Jessica Foster, a second-year nursing student, who both performed original pieces, said they thought the event was a good platform to speak about their personal experiences. 

Foster performed “Fragmented,” a poem about her experience with abuse and the community that supported her.

“My favorite was probably ‘Fragmented,’” first-year biology transfer studies student Miriam Huntoon said. “I’m somewhat of an abuse survivor myself, so it kind of hit different.” 

Perry said her original poem, “My Love Letter to Growing Pains,” is “something that everyone can relate to.”

Some audience members said they connected with the speakers.

“The one that [Perry] did about pain … and then she sang … that was one of my favorites,” professor Nicole Williams, the academic chair of human services, said.

Some audience members said they were impressed by the performances. 

“I … really enjoyed it,” Huntoon said. “It was very educational.”