50/50

Pomfret celebrates Women’s History Month.

Did you know women have been a part of Pomfret’s history long before the first female student was accepted in 1968? It’s true! Pomfret’s mascot — Griffy the Griffin — is female. Males in the griffin species do not have wings, and a winged griffin appeared in the family crest of William E. Peck, the School’s founder. Today, females make up nearly 50 percent of the student body. During Women’s History Month, our students looked to the past and to the future while examining issues of gender equity and equality.

To kick off the month, the 50/50 student group dedicated to empowering all women at Pomfret, met with faculty and school administrators to discuss topics they identified to improve the experience for female students. Their presentation focused on all facets of school culture — academics, athletics, and student life.

"We appreciate the topics of concern our students raised and respect the courage and leadership they displayed as they asked critical questions about the student experience and broadened our awareness," said Associate Head of School Don Gibbs. "We took their observations and suggestions to heart and have already implemented measures to address some of their areas of growth to better the school community for all students."

In addition to their work on the Hilltop, Tatum Fisher '22, Sarah Rumley '22, and Hanley Ferrucci ’22 led a webinar featuring alumnae Kay Cowperthwait '87, Katrin Urban '99, and Kirsten Therrien '10. Cowperthwait is a lifelong athlete who captained Pomfret’s soccer, ice hockey, and lacrosse teams and Colby College’s ice hockey and lacrosse teams, has coached at numerous colleges, was inducted into the Pomfret School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2017, and currently coaches a weekly ice hockey skills clinic for girls and women. Urban managed the field hockey and lacrosse teams while at Pomfret and now manages two horse barns and runs a boarding and riding program. While at Pomfret, Therrien was a member of the crew team and continued her love for rowing at Mount Holyoke College. She now is a firefighter and competes in CrossFit. On the webinar, the alumnae and current students discussed athletics on and beyond the Hilltop, self-discovery through sports, and current events in professional sports equality.

The 50/50 group continued their exploration of equity and equality during Project: Pomfret in their project group, Empowering Pomfret Women. To kick off their study, they visited the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in Boston and surveyed the differences in the ways men and women display their art. They also attended a lecture hosted by the UCONN Women's Center featuring author and cultural critic Roxane Gay. Gay’s New York Times bestseller, Bad Feminist, is universally considered the quintessential exploration of modern feminism.

Back on the Hilltop, the Empowering Pomfret Women group created opportunities to get their classmates involved in Women’s History Month. They set up tables to encourage community members to write thank-you notes to women they valued. Some who stopped by their tables wrote notes to their teachers and Pomfret employees, while others expressed their gratitude to their family members.

Inspired by their trip to the ICA, the project group created posters of famous female figures they look up to and created an art installation around campus entitled “See Me: Women We Admire.” For many in the group, creating the art was their favorite part of the month-long celebration. They started with black and white images of their role models and elevated them using markers and paint. “Creating and displaying the posters that we hung around campus was representative of what we did throughout Women's History Month — highlighted and raised awareness of the importance of women on- and off-campus,” says Sarah Rumley '22. “I hope all the work that we were able to do this month will continue throughout the remainder of this year and long after we have graduated from Pomfret.”