In the week preceding International Women’s Day, on March 8, Parker joined the rest of the world in celebrating the perseverance and accomplishments of women worldwide. Past and ongoing fights for gender parity took the stage through both a Morning Exercise and an additional event hosted by the club SAGE (Students Affirming Gender Equity).

Although International Women’s Day originated at the turn of the twentieth century, the principles under which this day was founded are more relevant today than ever. The “Me Too” and “Times Up” movements in the past year are just a few reasons why this year’s celebration of International Women’s Day was especially momentous.

This was the first time Parker had an MX dedicated to International Women’s Day. The presentation was based on Chelsea Clinton’s book “She Persisted,” which celebrates 13 inspirational women who did not take no for an answer. In prior years, a Presidents’ Day MX–in which Barack Obama’s book “Of Thee I Sing” was read–took the stage on this day.

Middle school music teacher Kingsley Tang, who planned both the past Presidents’ Day and the recent International Women’s Day Morning Exercises, said that when thinking about what to do for this year’s MX, he realized how moved he was by Elizabeth Warren’s being silenced by the Senate Majority leader, Mitch McConnell.

So when Clinton came out with her book, based on this moment, Tang was inspired. “I wanted to do something similar this year to the prior years,” Tang said, “and the book kind of lent itself to do a similar presentation to that of ‘Of Thee I Sing.’”

The goal of the MX would be achieved, Tang said, if everyone left the auditorium feeling something, or with a new perspective. Tang said, “My biggest hope is that people in the room feel affirmed that other people in the community care about issues related to women’s rights, issues related to diversity, and feel that they are not alone in thinking about these issues.”

“The International Women’s Day MX was an enlightening experience,” sophomore Micah Derringer said. “It was so amazing to see people from every corner of the school come together in support of gender parity.”

Chelsea Clinton herself appreciated the MX, which was evident by her Facebook post, in which she wrote, “Incredible performance inspired by #ShePersisted by Francis W. Parker School students. Blown away!”

A couple days prior to the MX, the International Women’s Day event, hosted by SAGE and Upper School French Teacher and coordinator of the event Lorin Pritikin, took place. On March 2, from 6 to 9 p.m., members of the Parker community came to the Harris Center to hear Parker student activists along with other panelists speak on their activism.

“I knew of International Women’s Day, and I knew that it was celebrated internationally by corporations and on college campuses, but I didn’t know too many high schools who had an official recognition of this international event,” Pritikin said. “So I thought, ‘Why doesn’t Parker put that on the map?’ So about six years ago, I started the ball rolling.”

Shortly after Pritikin initiated the event, the club Gender Matters (now SAGE) arose, and due to the similar interests of the club and the founding principles of the event, these two entities joined and Gender Matters became the event host along with Pritikin.

“I want people to be inspired,” Pritikin said. “Get up, show up, and don’t be an armchair activist if it fits in your life.”

Pritikin also hopes to send the message–to students and all attendees–that there are infinite ways to pursue activism. She said, “As far as activism and being inspired, that can come in any shape or form.”