Local women embrace college opportunities
By Kendra Simpson
Earning a degree isn’t always an easily achievable task, and historically, it’s been even less accessible for women. Today, women at Missouri Western State University are taking the higher education journey in stride, and supporting each other along the way.
Missouri Western student Patty Lashbrook is seeking her bachelor’s degree while also balancing being a wife, mother, editor and employee. But to her, it’s just part of being a woman.
“To wear so many hats, it’s kind of who we are,” Lashbrook said. “Like women just in general find ourselves in a lot of different situations, kind of at the same time. And it’s just a part of, I don’t know, I hate to generalize, but it is it’s a part of just being a woman.”
Kim Sigrist, a first-generation college graduate, has experienced firsthand and through her daughter what opportunities a college education can present for a woman.
“It’s been a great model for my daughter,” Sigrist said. “I think about her and I think about her path in earning a degree. It was probably an easier path than I had because she just knew that this was the door and the path she could take, whereas it was a new path for me. And I’ve seen her be able to be empowered by that degree and be empowered, I think, by seeing how I’ve used my degree.”
Megan Reed, a member of Alpha Sigma Alpha at Missouri Western State University, spoke about how her sorority encourages not only education but uplifting women along the way.
“We’re here to support each other and are always striving to have the elements of being poised and purposed and being a woman,” Reed said. “And (being) an example to other women and helping other women that are in need or being able to grow and be there for other people.”
Fifty years ago, only 8.2% of the female population in the United States earned a bachelor’s degree. In 2021, that number had soared to 39.1%, according to the census, surpassing the 36.6% of men who earn a bachelor’s.
“I think it’s important to remember the trailblazers that have gone before us,” Lashbrook said. “That have broken through walls and doors and have, you know, torn down those barriers that kept us out of places where we should be. And it’s easy to forget, I think, maybe that’s my generation, but it’s easy to forget sometimes those historical people that have made a difference and have made, really, my life so easy.”
“We’re going to do things like this and give back to the community as a whole,” Alpha Sigma Alpha member Jo Perkinson said. “And just prove that, like, women can do more than just sit around and look pretty, like we can get our hands dirty and we can clean some graves and we can go do some other things around.”
