Category: Berger Institute News

Art and well-being aligned in this workshop and performance with viral poet and community mental health leader Terisa Siagatonu. Known across the nation for her poetry videos, creative mental health workshops, and advocacy work, Terisa graced the Claremont Colleges with her presence on Tuesday, March 12, for an afternoon workshop, evening dinner, and open mic night with other student performers. The workshop focused on the power of healing from trauma with the unique perspective offered by Terisa’s experience as an Oceania artist and mental health clinician. After welcoming everyone into a relaxed space with a mindfulness body scan exercise, Terisa discussed the definition of trauma, who experiences it, and who we are afterward. “No one is exempt from experiencing trauma, but we do all experience it differently.” She described how trauma changes our physical makeup and how “the body is the one place that remembers trauma the most and the longest…connecting to our bodies is important for healing.” Attendees were also welcomed to participate in a free-writing activity where they wrote for a few minutes about a time they went through a fight, flight, or freeze experience. The open mic night later on featured some of Terisa’s riveting poetry, but students were also welcomed to perform their own works. This event was sponsored by the Berger Institute, CMC Asian Pacific American Mentoring Program, Pomona Asian American Resource Center, CARE, SCORE, Pacific Basin Institute, Ad Board, OID, Scripps Diversity and Inclusivity Chair, Motley Coffee House, IDAAS, Scripps Intercollegiate Feminist Center for Teaching, Research, and Engagement, and Scripps Humanities Institute.

Aspiring law students had the opportunity to hear from powerful females in the industry on Tuesday, January 29, 2019. In an event that merged networking, insightful speakers, and a three-course meal at the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum, students were able to receive words of wisdom and talk conversationally with women in the field. Sponsored by the Berger Institute, the CARE (Civility, Access, Resources, and Expression) Center, and the Soll Center for Student Opportunity, the Women in Law panel consisted of a diverse group of lawyers with varying experience and backgrounds. Panelists included Immigration Attorney Meredith Brown (CMC P’22), Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) Attorney Ruth Calvillo (CMC ’11), CMC Assistant Vice President/Chief Civil Rights Officer Nyree Gray, and Disability Attorney and Berger Institute Advisory Board Member Marci Lerner Miller (CMC ’89). “We need more female lawyers,” says Nyree during the informal networking reception before the dinner and panel.

As students and panelists moved to dinner and panel speeches, Meredith, Ruth, Nyree, and Marci had the opportunity to speak more about their experience in deciding on law school, the decisions they were proud of, barriers they’ve faced, and what it has been like navigating different types of practice while balancing family life and kids. “Try to be yourself. You don’t need to always do it the way it’s always been done or how it’s been done by men,” Marci advises. Nyree had similar advice: “Law is not the most inclusive space. . .really inundate yourself in that space would be my advice. . .and really follow through.” In talking about gathering experience when you’re starting out, Ruth stated that “mentorship is so important”. She described how it gave her the experience and confidence she needed. To hear more about future events through the Berger Institute, follow our event page or contact Courtney at courtney.chen@claremontmckenna.edu.

This year’s 10th annual Women and Leadership Workshop connected students with successful alumni and further prepared them for leadership roles after graduation. The workshop, which was held at McKenna Auditorium on February 22nd, featured keynote speaker Pamela B. Gann, J.D., President Emerita of Claremont McKenna College, Trustee Professor of Legal Studies and George R. Roberts Fellow, and Senior Fellow at the Kravis Leadership Institute. President Gann gave insights from her own school experience and spoke of gender biases she and others had to work through when trying to pave their way through their careers. “We were really on our own, [but] sometimes being on our own is a real growth factor.” After giving harrowing statistics on the number of women in politics, business, and law, she emphasized the importance of self-efficacy and building strategies for developing yourself into a good leader, such as “work[ing] on that thing that makes you uncomfortable.”

Dr. Sherylle Tan engaged the crowd as well with an interactive activity on work-life balance. At each table, students had the opportunity to create their own work-life balance wheel and to ask alumni about
how they’ve managed their wheels. The following panel of CMC alumnae, including San San Lee ’85, Harmony Palmer ‘13, and Charlie Stoddard Fitzpatrick ’94, further elaborated on this theme. In describing their backgrounds, they discussed an overall theme that there is no right way to approach your career.

“Stop thinking about the should’s and have-to’s and just go for the ride,” remarked San San Lee. The panelists also gave insight into how they dealt with personal costs with their careers, what they’ve changed to achieve more balance, and what they would say to themselves when they were students.

This event was sponsored by Susan and Thomas Handley ’77, the Berger Institute, the Kravis Leadership Institute, the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights, and the Women and Leadership Association.