Women on the move rise to occasion during WINR event:
Symposium brings students, community to South Campus for day of programs
by Victoria Salazar
reporter

A city council member recited the words of the “itsy bitsy spider” during a women’s conference on the South Campus to motivate and inspire others to keep trying.

Fort Worth City Council member Becky Haskin told students at the Women’s Symposium that the spider is just like women. “It never gave up; no matter how bad it was, it just kept going.”

The third annual symposium, Rising to the Occasion, Women on the Move was sponsored by the Women In New Roles program in honor of its 26th anniversary and Women’s History Month.

The symposium opened with a welcome and invocation by Triesha Light, South WINR coordinator, and Lavaria Bogan, the student event chair. Alice Eldridge, WINR student, followed with a rap of her poem Peace, Justice, Love.

Haskin and her mother, Dr. Paula Vastine, the Fort Worth Commission’s 2003 Woman of the Year and NE WINR instructor, presented the opening session. They held a conversation with each other about the differences between generations.

Vastine said that when she was young, it was not uncommon for girls to drop out of school and have a baby every year.

Haskin followed by stating that birth control as well as time has changed that.

“ Now a woman can chose when to start a family,” she said.

Vastine explained that she was able to go to school and finish, which was difficult to do at that time. She said that the most important element for success is an education.

Along with education, women must learn to budget money and handle the pressures of advertising to be successful as well, the mother and daughter agreed.

After the opening session, four theme break-out sessions were available: Rising to the Occasion—New Challenges for Families in the 21st Century with Dr. Alicia Lupinacci, NW professor of management and marketing; Women on the Move—Sexual Assault/Rape Awareness with Lt. Grady Patterson, SE TCC Police; Rising to the Occasion—Beauty, Ageism, and Body Image with Dr. Lynda Effertz, a former WINR student; and Women on the Move—Challenging Career and Workplace Myths with Nadine Felix, director of the Arlington Convention Center.

During a lunch presentation, Dr. Ernest L. Thomas, president of South Campus, voiced his appreciation of the women in the WINR program.

“ Your story inspires me,” he said.

Women’s history has been left out of textbooks, Thomas said. What was included, according to Thomas, was tainted and twisted, but slowly the history is being put where it belongs.

Kay Casey, executive director of the TCC Foundation, introduced a panel of community leaders. The first speaker, Flora Brewer, vice president of Rhythm Band in Fort Worth, talked about her life and the struggles she had to endure to get where she is now.

“ Education; careful, hard work; looking at the big picture; listening to family and friends; being employable and re-employable; and loving yourself are guidelines to be successful,” she said.

Brewer said she has followed these guidelines as well as her father’s advice many times to be successful. She and her family gave the first endowment to the TCC foundation for scholarships.

“ Follow your heart while working and raising a family,” she said.

Marilou Martinez-Stevens, the second speaker, is owner of CPA and Associates and has offices throughout Texas.

After being told that she was not ready to go to a college like the University of Texas, Martinez-Stevens said she went, and failure was just not an option for her.

Not only did she not fail, she succeeded with straight A’s.

“ It takes good decisions and bad decisions to be successful,” she said.

Martinez-Stevens said making a big decision is not as helpful as making a small decision.

As well as having her own company, Martinez-Stevens is on many advisory boards and is one of the founders of New American Alliance. For Martinez-Stevens, outlining her success and her failure is not an “option attitude.”

“ If you’re going to dream, dream big. The future is ours,” she said.

Renee Hornbuckle, pastor of the Agape Christian Fellowship in Arlington, believes success is in constant motion. Like the other women on the panel, Hornbuckle, experienced many career changes before finding her true success.

Hornbuckle left a successful career to be a wife and a mother because she felt that it was her time to do so. Her husband is a pastor, and Hornbuckle said she knew that she was to do the same thing. She went back to school for biblical studies and became a pastor with her husband.

“ Anything is possible if you’re willing to do it,” she said.

For Hornbuckle, her success has been with her family and her giving back to the community as with Brewer and Martinez-Stevens.

“ True leaders will give back. Everything you gain, you have to give back,” she said.

The symposium also gave more than 100 participants the opportunity to go through exhibits. Several TCC and community organizations offered displays about their programs.

Darlene Marks and the South Campus music department provided entertainment.

Last Updated: 4/14/2004
Copyright © 2004 The Collegian - All Rights Reserved