In 1987, Congress passed a law declaring that the month of March would be considered a celebration of the milestone of women gaining the right to vote and their contributions throughout history. At first, instead of a month of celebration, there was a “Women’s History Week” in 1978, originating from California. This led to the idea of establishing a month to acknowledge and celebrate the women who fought for their rights back in the 1920’s.

At Fenton High,  there is a list of women in power, such as women from the school board, assistant principals, teachers, etc. Many women at FHS have contributed to students’ education and their ability to build up more skills, along with providing resources for students and for FHS.

Assistant Principal Dr. Jennifer Yonkov shared her thoughts about Women’s History Month and how she pursued her current position at FHS.

“I think it’s great that we have a month where we recognize women in history and the accomplishments they’ve made,” Yonkov said. “I always wanted to be a teacher when I grew up. My teachers kind of inspired me to be a teacher too. I liked math a lot, so I wanted to help people understand math. While I was teaching math, one of my assistant principals asked me if I wanted to be an assistant principal. I said no, but then she said I could teach other teachers to be a teacher like me, so I started looking into that…I’ve worked with students, parents and other people hoping to make the world a little bit of a better place.”

ELA teacher Heather Mulligan also spoke about how she was able to enter her current position and what Women’s History Month means to her.

“I went to college in the early 90s, and I’ve been teaching at Fenton for my whole career. So I have been able to build up my experiences here,” Mulligan said. “Women’s History Month is a time where we can look at the women who have gone before us, and we can look at the risks they’ve taken and how they made life better for all of us, and how they have changed science or law. It’s good to take that time to celebrate a group of people who came to their full power.”

There are many women who are to be recognized here at FHS for their accomplishments and involvement in making school a better place for students and teachers in their occupations or daily lives. It is also important to acknowledge the women in the past who made certain factors happen and possible in today’s world. Certain factors, such as advanced technology, new laws and businesses being created, equality and much more that women have and are successfully creating for the modern world.