College of Charleston students are always on the move. To join them in movement and showcase some of their recent accomplishments, the Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) Program recently hosted its first “Feminism in Motion” event, a celebration of student-scholars working on gender-related projects.

Feminism in Motion participants were given the opportunity to mingled and discuss hot-button issues at the event’s “Feminism Café.” (Photos by Percy Haas)

“The Feminism in Motion event was organized as a nontraditional symposium of students’ successes to share with the broader College of Charleston and City of Charleston communities,” says WGS director Kris De Welde, noting that hundreds of faculty, students and community members joined the celebration on April 2, 2018. “Our goal was to feature students’ research, course projects, study abroad experiences, internship experiences, activism projects, community-engagement activities, poetry, artwork, performance pieces and so on. Our intention was for this to be a dynamic and fast-paced event with lots of interactive time, mingling and, ultimately, a celebration of students.”

Students presented research on everything from women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and trans-inclusive video game designs to narratives of abortion in South Carolina and incarcerated women’s health. The event also featured an awards ceremony recognizing graduating seniors Carly Lewis and Cora Webb as School of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Scholars and Kate Cockerham, Dari Goldman and Rafael Martín-Navas as WGS Outstanding Student Awardees.

The 2018–19 recipients of the Alison Piepmeier Scholarship and the Skirt! Magazine Endowed Scholarship were also announced at the ceremony, with Misty Antonacci receiving the Skirt! Magazine Endowed Scholarship and Raegan Whiteside receiving the Alison Piepmeier Scholarship.

The WGS Program’s sixth annual “Yes! I’m a Feminist” celebration and fundraiser will be held in the Cistern Yard on Friday, Sept. 7, 2018. De Welde hopes that “Feminism in Motion” will become an annual event.


Feature photo: WGS graduating seniors, pictured clockwise, l-r: Cora Webb, Jessica Rogerson, Zoe Grimm, Chloe Beckham, Kate Cockerham, Kris De Welde (WGS director), Rafael Martín-Navas and Carly Lewis. Not pictured: Dari Goldmand and Jessica Rogerson.