From the earliest records of history to the world today, the role and rights of women remain ever changing. From becoming high priestesses and worshipped as high deities, to facing restrictions of what to wear and transformed to facing subjection, especially by maintaining domestic spheres in the household, women have always adapted to the inconsistent expectations that society has imposed. Because various daring women have gone without fear to change the standard way of life, future generations can now tackle the hardships that the world sets in motion.
“Honestly, my life would stand incomparable to today without the work of the women before me,” junior Audrey Baldson said. “Since I want to enter law and politics as an adult, I would have none of these opportunities if such advancements just up and disappeared. Today, a majority of law students exist as women, but without a tradition of excellence and trail blazing, [this possibility would cease.]”
Revisiting 1870, long before the 19th amendment for women to vote passed, Ada Kepley, a student at Northwestern University, graduated and earned her degree in law making her the first woman in U.S. history to ever do so. As time progressed and the world approached the year of 1919, the Sex Disqualification Act, passed by the British Parliament, prevented women from facing rejection because of their gender. Finally, in 1922, women throughout the U.S. finally became able to legally attend law school, which made Ada Kepley an inspiration for generations to come.
“I think women’s right to vote became such an important accomplishment because it gave us a voice that we never had before,” junior Greer Gilbraith said.
For the first time in history, as the world became accustomed to the 20th century, the 19th amendment passed which finally allowed women to vote regardless of their sex. The stereotype of a “true” woman, which engendered a woman only concerned with the home and family faced opposition, however, failed to end with the amendment. Furthermore, the right to vote, not even a top priority of the Women’s Equality Movement to begin with, proved refinement as essential, especially since at the time, states could still discriminate against women who tried to vote.
“[The Women’s Rights Movement] still has to create standards and goals for women that remain not as comparisons to men,” Gilbraith said. “I feel as if we try to chase and replicate what men have but why not just make it our own thing?”
While the current movement makes headway for profuse accomplishments, with such issues involving the abuse of transgender women, basic misgendering, and even the infamous wage gap, the movement still requires a great deal of progression. Countries like Brazil and Mexico lead the world in transphobic violence and abuse cases, most of which go unnoticed. Last December, in Playas Del Coco, Tati Quiros, shot multiple times, failed to hold recognition as a woman in media coverage. The extent of these deaths have progressed so substantially that even cisgender women in Latin America become targeted like prey for their femininity.
“No matter the advancements women make in society, we have long given into oppression throughout history,” Baldson said. “If one day the ultimate triumph over the patriarchy comes, we should still celebrate the centuries of women who brought us to that point. It [subsists] as a recognition of our history and a celebration of how far we have come.”
Because of the degrading belief that women come off as too emotional or lack cognizance to hold certain jobs, especially held by former president Howard Taft or rapper T.I. who stated that a Loch Ness monster would become more fit for a presidential career, women’s work, left as unrecognized, became swindled and looked down on by men. From the discovery of the DNA double helix by Rosalind Franklin, purloined by Watson and Crick, to the original game of Monopoly invented by Elizabeth Maggie known as “The Landlord’s Game” that never received credit, women continue to face doubt as their overall perception by the world remains perpetuated by vacillation.
“Existing as a woman happens as something I do not consciously recognize day to day- I simply exist as me,” Baldson said. “The terms of a woman [turn to definition] only when I recognize the surrounding patriarchy that narrows my sense of self and opportunity. In that case, living as a woman prepares us to deal with the nicks and scratches you take on trying to become yourself in this patriarchal world.”
The Marine Corps Toys for Tots 2020 campaign was a record-book worthy campaign, led by the DSHS JROTC club. All seven DSISD schools, along with Caliterra, Springs Family YMCA, Swift Sessions, and Crossfit Second Wave all hosted boxes for donations.
In total, over a dozen full boxes of toys and $2,000 were collected.
The thudding of the basketball, the swish of the net. Shoes squeak on the floor and the heavy breathing of players can be heard. The whistle sounds, practice is over. It’s dark by the time she walks out of the school. That night, she’s hunched over her desk, studying for a test tomorrow.
This is the reality of a student athlete, and senior Caroline Gamble has worked hard to be where she’s at, varsity basketball player and an excellent student.
Gamble works on free throws before an 8:30 am practice. Photo by Cady Russell
“Oh, it’s so hard. It’s really hard,” Gamble said. “What really helps is that basketball is in the morning. And so it’s from 6:30 to 10. And that really helps because I don’t do my homework in the morning anyways. But there’s like these few couple week periods where we’ll have after practice. So that’s so difficult because we get out around seven, 6:30 ish and I’m exhausted and I don’t have enough time. I have so much more to do.”
Gamble has to make sure that she plans out her week accordingly, scheduling time to do homework between practices and events to stay where she wants academically.
“My dream school is Yale. I’ve wanted to go there for such a long time. It was partly inspired by Rory Gilmore. She is the mold. I just want to be her that was part of inspiration, just I want to be there,” Gamble said. “I’ve talked to people who went to school a lot, and they’re like, you won’t have as much fun here. But it’s going to be really rewarding. That’ll be worth it for your career. And so that’s why I want to go there.”
But it’s more than just the school that draws Gamble into Yale, but also for the academics.
“It’s one of the best schools in the country to go there for economics, mathematics, and political science. It’s just a really challenging thing, the curriculum. And it’ll really help me grow academically,” Gamble said. “Also, you have an open mic, you can choose the classes you want to take, like you don’t really have required courses. And so while I’m pursuing my major, I can also learn French, just for fun, or take a European history class. Like, I just think that’s so cool.”
Combined with her high academic pursuits, Gamble has been an athlete for years.
“So I initially started playing soccer at age four. And I originally was awful at it. And I played it for around seven years,” Gamble said. “I started to pass my peak soccer performance and I was like ‘I think I’m done with this now.”
Gamble had also been playing basketball since third grade, and as she fell out of love with soccer, started to look at other sports, touching in cross country and track.
“And I loved cross country for so long until I got tendinitis and then couldn’t run anymore, Gamble said. “And so everything kind of led back to basketball. And I always had some really great friends in basketball. And I always loved it even when we had hard practices and just look forward to scrimmaging and it’s just been great all around.”
And basketball has been an amazing experience for Gamble.
“Honestly, I do remember one of our games very vividly, it was against like our arch rival in the district, it was the only team that was like that, but it was, it was such a fun game,” Gamble said. “The gym was absolutely packed. Like there were no seats left. And it was loud the whole time, I felt like I was playing in a professional game because it was just so loud. And I never experienced a high school game.”
Gamble has put in tons of effort into both her sport and her academic career, sacrificing normal high school experiences.
“And I’m honestly just working hard and spending as much as I can, sacrificing going to a football game to, you know, study for my huge APUSH test. Like things like that,” Gamble said. “It’s going to be worth it in the end.”
By Cady Russell, Sports Editor and Online Editor-in-Chief
Certified Medical Assistant day is Oct. 21. This academic year marks the third year that Dripping Springs High School has offered the Certified Clinical Medical Assistant program. The program has grown from a starting class of eight in the first year to 29 students enrolled this year. Upon completion of the course, the students will take the National Healthcareer Association’s certification exam. The pass rate is 86%, which is higher than the national average of 75% and includes colleges and technical schools as well.
Certified Personal Trainer is the fourth health science certification option at DSHS and enrollment has more than doubled since its first year. Last year’s students had a pass rate of 83%. This year the program has 15 students enrolled, who will spend the year in the classroom and weight room learning the knowledge and skills to become excellent personal trainers, and then they’ll sit for their nationally recognized exam in May.
Even though we are only a couple weeks into the school year, the 2021 Yearbook is already in the works. Order a senior ad to be placed in the back of the yearbook to celebrate your senior and all their accomplishments.
myDSHSnews is managed by the student media team at Dripping Springs High School. Content is curated by students in Journalism, Photography, Paw Print Newspaper and Tiger Cry Yearbook. Go Tigers!
myDSHS 