Women’s Appreciation Month celebrates 8th year

Anjel-Ali Ormond Contributing Writer

It is well known that Women’s History Month takes place annually in March, but on the Virginia State campus, it is known as Women’s Appreciation Month. The university’s women hold several events throughout at the month - all with a focus on celebrating and uplifting the women on campus.

While it may seem like VSU’s Women’s Appreciation Month events is common knowledge on campus, this year is only the 8th year of the program. When Women’s Appreciation Month, or WAM, first started on campus, it wasn’t a month of events - it was only a day.

“That’s what’s crazy about it, it was a two-hour day event,” said Cathleen Braxton, the founder of Women’s Appreciation Month and Director of Student Conduct at Virginia State University.

Braxton first thought of the idea of Women’s Appreciation Month two years after she arrived at the university.

“When I first arrived on campus, I was the violence prevention coordinator. I worked under the counseling center,” Braxton said. “So I was receiving all of these young ladies in my office, and all the conversations we had, and I was wondering, ‘What do y’all do other than be a part of your own organization?’ Everyone’s organizations are separate. I started researching what I could do to bring some kind of unity to the young ladies on campus, other than making them collab on programs. So I thought, wait, it’s Women’s History Month. [I realized that] we women need to appreciate each other on campus, so I changed the name to Women’s Appreciation Month.”

The first event ever for WAM was a two-hour event hosted by the 87th Miss Virginia State University Lauren Papillion and a Delta Sigma Theta member Nia. The event ended up going for three hours in Hunter-McDaniel, where students could buy from vendors and at-