Ball State Students Give Back

Celebrations for National Women’s History Month were happening all over the country, including here in Muncie.  This year, the YWCA Central Indiana was selected to receive the proceeds from one of the Ball State’s Women’s Week events, The Vagina Monologues.

Sponsored by the Women & Gender Studies Program, in conjunction with Feminists for Action, this radical show compiles the stories and struggles of women from all around the world. Topics include sexual assault, the experience of giving birth, womanhood from a child’s perspective, transgender women, and many other challenges women face every day.  The purpose of the show is to offer a human perspective on women and the relationship with the female body.

Ball State senior and performer, Riley Gray, said that by donating the proceeds to the YWCA Central Indiana, they are really focusing on the impact they can make in their own community, “The show talks about women on a global scale, but this is our way of bringing it back home.”

Looking forward, Gray hopes that Women’s Week and The Vagina Monologues will continue to grow.  “I am continually reminded of the resiliency and power of women,” she says, and we agree this is an important message that needs to be heard.  The Women & Gender Studies Program and The YWCA Central Indiana share this common goal of empowering women, and we are proud to have such inspiring young women in our community.  We are so grateful for these students’ hard work, and we look forward to working with them in the future!

• Lesley Nickels, YWCA Intern