This month, SUNY Jamestown Community College will participate in the Women’s Empowerment Draft, hosted by Art Force 5. The program uses a pro-sports theme to build enthusiasm for historic female icons. JCC is among 21 SUNY colleges, two CUNY colleges, and three private colleges partnering with 31 primary and secondary schools throughout New York State to create a mosaic that will ultimately be part of one of the nation’s largest Women’s History Month tributes.
“It has been nice to work with Jenny Brown, the art teacher at Southwestern, our JCC student representative Cassondra Doubek, and Southwestern student rep Oli Strother,” shares Kayla Crosby, JCC’s Campus Life director. “Last year, we honored Lucille Ball. This year, we’re shining a light on Marsha P. Johnson, a transgender activist who participated in the Stonewall Uprising in 1969, and fought for equal rights.”
Students from Salamanca City Central School and JCC’s Cattaraugus County Campus will team up to create a mosaic of retired teacher Sandy Dowdy. Dowdy is recognized for many years of teaching the Seneca language in public school and for co-founding the Montessori-based Faithkeepers School in Steamburg, N.Y., where young children learn language and tradition.
“Sandy is helping to keep the Seneca language alive,” said Lisa Yohon, JCC’s Cattaraugus County director of Campus Life. “She’s done so much work. She definitely deserves all this recognition.”
The W.E. Draft was founded in 2020 to celebrate the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment. Each day in March, a different school and partnering college is challenged to pay tribute to their icon on social media. JCC’s Cattraugus County Campus tribute is planned for March 30, while the Jamestown Campus tribute is planned for March 31.
“JCC has a nice afternoon planned for us,” Brown shares. “We’re looking forward to touring the artworks on campus, helping with the mosaic painting, and then lunch.”
The 31 women featured include well-known figures Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Noteworthy, though lesser-known trailblazers, such as lawyer Jill Chaifetz and assemblywoman Cynthia Jenkins, are also represented.
“This program demonstrates the power of collaboration between NYS colleges, K-12 schools, and hopefully professional sports organizations,” shared Dan Napolitano, program director and associate dean at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. “Most importantly, it uses engaging art and joyful activities to openly talk about difficult issues of equality throughout history.”