Science, literature and the contributions which women have made to both were celebrated during two recent events which the United States Embassy held in Dominica. The events which took place during the same week as International Women’s Day, were held to mark Women’s History Month which is celebrated during March.
The first event was a reading and discussion of American women poets with a group of CXC English literature students hosted by the American Corner at the Roseau Public Library. An Embassy officer led the students from the Wesley High School and Dominica Grammar School in a lively discussion on poets such as Sylvia Plath and Gwendolyn Brooks whose work the young people are already studying for their upcoming CXC exams.
The Embassy also donated a collection of books by or about American women writers to the American Corner.
The second event was held at the Atkinson Primary School where an officer hosted a talk with students about famous American women scientists such as geneticist Nancy Wexler and physicist Shirley-Ann Jackson, the first African-American woman to earn a doctorate from MIT. The event, held at a school just outside of the Kalinago territory was attended by Kalinago chief Garnet Joseph. Besides highlighting the role of women in science, the event was held to encourage all students to think about careers in science.
The Embassy also donated a collection of books by and about American women scientists to the school, so students could continue to be inspired. In that spirit, Principal Alice Laronde announced a competition for students centered on the collection, with the promise of a prize to the first boy and girl who reads all of the books in the 19-book set.
what’s sad is how little comments there are on some good news like this. but on the gay issue and crime news there are hundreds of comments. goes to show you where dominicans’ interest lies. Then people will come and ask why dno never post good news.
Very sad to see Americans came here to tell us about American women in history. We have our own women too. Time to put our women in history on the map too.