Essay Award Winners:

Besty Dutil

Julia Hammond

Alexandra Rusetzke

Honorable Mentions:

Samantha Farah

Ashli Guice

Betsy Dutil, Whittier Middle School

"Sally Ride"

When Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in 1969, he said his ever so famous words, “That’s one small step for man, and one giant leap for mankind.” Boys all around the world began to dream of becoming astronauts when they grew up. Hold on; wait a minute, Man, Mankind? His choice of words highlighted a common thought of that time. It showed that men were astronauts and girls should not even give space flight a second thought. Girls in those days were meant to marry young, have kids, and stay at home most of their lives. Other girls in America grew up to be nurses, teachers, or mothers; they did “womanly” jobs, but not in Sally Ride’s home. Sally’s parents encouraged her to be different. Being a doctor or even an engineer was a major career step for a woman of that time, but to be a woman astronaut, wow!

As a child, Sally Ride loved all kinds of sports. She liked to read books and discover new things. Her dream as a child was to become a professional tennis player. She had the skills and opportunities to make it happen, but she decided it wasn’t for her. Sally wanted more than just tennis, so she chose to concentrate on school instead. Sally knew she was going to go far in her life, but never imagined that she would be the first American woman to ever travel in space.
In school normal academics became boring to Sally, so her parents decided to send her to a prominent girl’s high school. One thing she became very interested in at her new school was science. All the advanced courses and laboratories gave her a different view of science. She studied it all the time and soon space and astronomy were on the top of her “to do list.”

College arrived and Sally took it head on, achieving above average grades as well as playing tennis for her college team. While still I school working for a PhD, after already earning two degrees in English and one in physics, she saw an article in the newspaper that would change her life. The article caught her eye and told about how NASA was looking for more scientists to use on future missions to space. She decided to apply for the job, but did not have much hope of being chosen. Her parents began to worry about her academics at college because of all the work she was taking on. No need to worry. Sally was such an untethered woman that she took on more challenging events that she still called, “fun.”
An unexpecting Sally received a letter of selection into the NASA Astronaut Training Program. Over eight thousand people applied for the program, and only thirty-five were chosen; five were women and Sally was one of them. In 1978 she entered astronaut training.

If it were not for that little article in the newspaper that she had read that day, back in 1977, she would never have thought of truly becoming an astronaut. She realized what she was getting herself into and loved it more and more. She finally knew it was for her because of how much she really wanted to fly in space.
One year went by, full of math, meteorology, astronomy, and other complicated classes. There were also difficult training sessions including parachute jumping, water survival, and radio communications. During the same time she earned her pilot’s license as well. Flying then became one of Sally’s favorite hobbies.
In April of 1982, after waiting over four years to fly through the stars, she would be among the crew of the STS-7 Challenger. Sally would be on of the mission specialists.

For Sally, being the first American woman to ever travel in space meant a lot, but just to travel in space meant so much more. She was also the first woman to ever be placed in a CapCom position. A CapCom is at the mission control center and is the only person who talks directly to the astronauts who are in the shuttle from the ground. They are known for staying very cool and calm under very stressful situations.

Sally retired from NASA in 1987. Today Sally is a physics professor. She also writes children’s books encouraging today’s children to reach for the stars, and she means it, literally.

Sally Ride is a very important figure in American history. Her story shows how it can be so amazing to be different. Sally did not want to be a housewife, or teacher, or even a professional tennis player as she had planned. She paved a path for other untethered women in America, especially for all other women astronauts.

Sally had to face many challenges. One major challenge was just being a woman. Since she was the first American woman to ever travel in space, reporters and journalists became very excited about this subject. They began to ask her all kinds of questions that were uncalled for and rude. Sally became annoyed and uncomfortable. On one such occasion Sally was at a press conference when a journalist stood up and asker her, “Are you going to wear a bra in space?” Sally replied back sarcastically, “There is no sag in zero-g.” Sally told her family and friends about how the attention was so extreme that at times she wished someone else had gone first. Another challenge she had to face was in college when she was deciding on a career path and it was not “cool,” as she said, to choose math or science since she was a girl. Many girls shy away from those subjects. As you can see, Sally did not shy away from math and science. She learned everything she could about them and decided to use her intelligence in a very different way.

There are many other untethered women who have changed history. All of us untethered women share many of the same characteristics. We are determined and achieve many of the goals that we set for ourselves to accomplish. We prove that we can be whomever we choose to be and no one will stop us. When things get rough for us untethered women, we never give up. We stay strong and hold our heads high. When we fall, we are right back on our feet wiping off our pants, ready for the next challenge ahead of us.

It takes a lot of courage to chart a new path to go where women have not gone before. An untethered woman is someone that every woman should look up to, no matter who you are. We encourage each other and give each other the strength to carry on. We allow others to see beyond the stars. Untethered women, like Sally Ride, inspire blossoming untethered women, like myself, to reach for the moon.

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Julia Hammond, Whittier Middle School

"Evelyn 'Bobbi' Trout"

Today, women can hold the positions that we do because of the women who preceded us. My generation will produce an entire generation of untethered women because no one ever told us otherwise. Thanks to women like Eleanor Roosevelt, Jennifer Granholm, and even Cleopatra, we can be who we want to be. I think that, out of respect and gratitude for the women who have done so much for us, all women should strive to be all that we can be. Perhaps this is the beginning of my journey to becoming an untethered woman, as well as a tribute to just one woman who paved the path for my success.

From her childhood, Evelyn “Bobbi” Trout dreamt of becoming a flier. Like any confident. Self-assured woman, she was determined to make her dream a reality. Her opportunity came when she dreamily told a customer at her family’s service station of her ambition. The customer happened to own a plane and he took her up for her first ride. After that ride, her teachers had to tell her to get her head out of the clouds.

Although Bobbi’s head was in the clouds she immediately began setting goals for herself. After her first time in a plane, she began saving her money and, in 1928, when she was twenty-two, Bobbi began taking flight lessons. What this shows me is that even untethered women have plans and goals; untethered is not synonymous with uncontrolled.

As an aviatrix, Bobbi encountered many obstacles she couldn’t simply “glide over.” Bobbi constantly traveled the country competing, presenting her plane, and generally flaunting her talents. Logically, this cost a lot of money, so sometimes Bobbi struggled financially. Another challenge for Trout was overcoming society’s chauvinistic values; she was even part of the group of women who set the style for wearing pants. Perhaps the most serious and daunting challenge was the danger of flying. Bobbi survived a crash just two months after her first flying lesson. The funny thing is that it was her flight instructor who was piloting! Bobbi Trout continually challenged herself; that was one of the highlights of being an aviatrix. Bobbi thrived during challenges and she never let obstacles overcome her goals.

Bobbi Trout was a trendsetter and a record breaker. Her nickname came from her popular haircut called a “bob.” When she was teased about it, she said, “Just call me Bobbi.” Bobbi was not an airplane pilot; she was a stunt flier, a barnstormer, and a trick flier. Bobbi flew for the thrill of it and she was constantly making and breaking all the records. Bobbi set more than 200 records during her lifetime. Bobbi was self-directed, also. She made a career out of aviation by touring the country presenting the new Golden Eagle airplane.

Bobbi earned prestige in the aviation field. Together, Bobbi Trout and Edna May Cooper established the refueling endurance record of 122 hours and 50 minutes, for which Bobbi received the Federation’s Medallion. This esteemed award was only presented to two other fellow aviators, Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart.

When the stunt flying and aviation field slowed down around 1930, Bobbi moved on to a new career: photography, but she kept flying as a hobby. Bobbi also founded and ran the Aero Reclaiming Company. This business was a cross between a lost and found for airplanes and an airplane repossession company. Two careers weren’t challenging enough for Bobbi, so she began inventing various things and even earned her Certificate of Achievement for inventors. Not to mention that once Bobbi began growing older, she became a realtor, ran an offset printing business, and even worked in life insurance.

During her lifetime, Bobbi truly utilized all the skills she had and developed more, too. Her careers spanned all sorts of fields: entertainment, engineering, marketing, sales and much more. To switch careers so often, Bobbi really must have known how to roll with the punches. This is required skill for women than and now.

In today’s world, women have to work that much harder than men do just because we’re women. We constantly have to prove that we’re worthy, which requires very quick thinking. We have to be flexible. We have to be willing to travel anywhere to succeed.

Bobbi Trout once said, “Our destination is everywhere.” When I really think about this quote, I think Bobbi may have meant that we go anywhere and everywhere like takes us. Or, she might have meant we can go everywhere we want to go if we apply ourselves. What I’m sure she meant was that we are responsible for our own lives and choices. We need to make the choices that are right for us, and we should also try to do something new and better to inspire others. Finally, I believe she meant that if our destination is everywhere; then the only thing that can tether us and hold us back is ourselves.

Throughout history, men have controlled society, government, and women. An untethered woman is a woman who sets herself apart from this concept. An untethered woman is bold, self-confident, and she proudly expresses her ideas and opinions, which tend not to be “the norm.” An untethered woman does not restrain herself in public; she doesn’t believe that women are inferior. Historical untethered women were those who originally fought for respect, setting the precedent for the women who came after them. Untethered women did their own thing. They were out of the ordinary; they went where no woman had gone before.

It is the desire, the passion of untethered women to explore new territories, to set new boundaries, and to step out of the box. There are many different degrees of untethered women, from the most aggressive to the shy and quiet. Untethered is anything in which a woman steps out of her boundaries to challenge herself. Having the courage to help yourself or others is untethered.

In simplest terms, an untethered woman is revolutionary. The signature song of a band I love, Superchick, is called One Girl Revolution. Part of the song goes “I declare my independence from the critics and their stones. I can find my revolution, I can learn to stand alone.” I think this song perfectly capturers the attitude of untethered women. To me, it’s saying that although we all struggle, we can all be untethered. We all have it in us to be the confident woman we want to be; we just have to “muster up” the strength, courage and determination it takes to get there, On that note, I challenge you to stand up loud and proud and say “I am woman, hear me roar.” I challenge YOU, the reader to become your own one woman revolution.

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Alexandra Rusetzke, St Roberts School, Flushing

"A Daredevil Mommy: Shawna Robinson"

Does speeding around the racetrack at 200 miles per hour and nearly colliding into a wall at top speed sound like a normal day at work to you? Probably not, but it does for Shawna Robinson, professional NASCAR driver. Every day when she walks out on to the tracks she risks everything, including being part of her family. Shawna has two kids, Samantha, 6 and Tanner, age seven. When people say “You’re a mom. Why do you take the risks you take?” She simply answers, “This is who I am. I don’t believe women should stop being who they are when they become mothers.”

Shawna is an inspiration to women everywhere because of her determination to prove racing is not just a “man’s sport.” She says, “By pursuing my passions, I am inspiring my kids to follow their dreams and not listen to the millions of other who say you can’t do that because it is a man’s sport.” Shawna proved these people wrong, which makes her one of the best role models out there. I think she is a great inspiration for all people, not just her two children.

Robinson does not consider racecar driving to be that dangerous. She even th9inks it is safer than driving a regular car out on the street. “Racecars are well built and the drivers are professionally trained. “She states. It may not seem too safe to you or me, but she does have a point. The drivers we see everyday out on the road s are not experienced NASCAR drivers.

Racing was always a big part of Shawna’s life. Growing up in Des Moines, Iowa, Robinson spent every Saturday watching her father compete at the local racetrack. Shawna started racing right after high school, around the age of 18, and had been concentrating on it ever since. Things did change though, after her husband, and she decided to have kids. Shawna says, “The week I found out I was pregnant with Tanner, I got a call to race the Daytona 500.” Unfortunately, Shawna had to decline, but it was still a big honor. Robinson’s top priorities are her two children. “They usually come with me and travel all over the country with their nanny in tow.” If school interferes, she calls and talks with them every day.

Shawna did get a repeat offer to compete in the Daytona 500 in the last couple of years. She was doing really well, but ran out of gas and placed 24th overall. One of her many other accomplishments is being the only woman to compete in the NASCAR Winston Cup. After she finished the race, she was the first women to do so since Janet Guthrie in 1980. Shawna is a racer. “I never was a cheerleader. I am an athlete. I have always wanted to compete, and if I compete, I want to win. I was born competitive and that’s in my blood. Whatever car I am in, whatever series I am running, whatever track I am racing; I want to be a factor. I want people to know that Shawna Robinson was there.”

Some of her accomplishments would be to be the first woman to finish in the top 10 points in any national oval-track motor sports series, the first woman to complete a full season in any national oval-track sports series, and the first woman in NASCAR history to win a pole position in the NASCAR Touring series in a 40-year history. She was also the first female to win a major super speedway point race at the famed Milwaukee Mile Bobtail 100 in 1984. Some people say that this is highly unusual for a woman to have as many accomplishments in a “man’s sport,” but I say it is awesome.

Being a woman in the racing world was never a setback for Shawna. She says that being around positive people is a great key to success. Robinson is the perfect example on how stereotypes in NASCAR are not true. “The biggest thing is that there is always gonna be people who tell you can't. Negative, negative, negative, negative and negative. Get yourself away from negative people. Surround yourself with positive people who want you to succeed and aren’t jealous of that success and are happy for you.” Shawna states.

“ It is hard to identify who those people are. They might be the people who you think are the best and they are not. Those whom are negative…let them give you more drive. I don’t care if you have fire spitting out of you every time you walk by!” Shawna’s inspiration to be a NASCAR driver came from these types of people. “There were guys in the truck series that didn’t think I had any business being at that race track when I raced trucks. They are the ones who give me all the drive. I have to thank them now!”

I can relate to Shawna’s career experience. Women everywhere experience stereotyping, especially in sports. I think it is great that Robinson is showing people that everyone can excel in whatever they choose to do and be just as good as the next person regardless of gender. Trying one’s best is the point and challenging oneself.

Untethered women are hard workers, determined and they never give up on their hopes and dreams. Shawna Robinson had a dream to compete in NASCAR and no one was going to stop her. Many people did not believe in her and said she would not make it. Sometimes that is enough to make you quit, but not is this case. I think Shawna is a great example on how you can achieve whatever you put you mind to, with a little hard work. She also proved that women should not have to stay at home and be housekeepers taking care of the kids. Shawna proved that this common stereotype is not true. Women can have lives outside the home and be successful. Shawna Robinson switches between being a professional racer to an interior designer to a mother and homemaker successfully on a daily basis. Now how many men can do that!

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Samantha Farah, Whittier Middle School

"Charlotte Parkhurst"

When you think of women, what comes to mind? Most people think of housewives who cook, clean, and take care of their families. It is not the people’s fault that they see women in these limited roles. Look on television or in movies. There is Marge on the Simpons (housewife), the mother on Dexter’s Lab (housewife), and Carol Brady (housewife). Also on the Brady Bunch, Alice was their maid. Why could they not have hired a butler? Those are the women stereotypes; those are the kinds of women the public would like to see in their society. There are also unconventional women like Ellen Degenerous, Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, and Hilary Clinton. These are women who are different and untethered. They are the types of women whom I am focusing on in this report.

Charlotte Parkhurst was born in an orphanage located in New Hampshire. She was considered an average little girl whose only choice for her future would be to get married and have children. Charlotte decided that was not the life she wanted to lead, so she made the decision to run away. After her escape she soon found there were no employment opportunities available for young girls at the time. “The only way I can make it is if I dress up as a guy,” she thought to herself.

That is exactly what she did. She dressed up as a boy and took on the name Charlie. Charlie worked as a stable boy because she seemed to have a special connection with those horses. For a man she was very petite and had a higher pitched voice, but no one thought anything of it. While attempting to keep a horse tame, it kicked her in the face causing her to lose an eye, which later got her the name One-Eyed Charlie. As Charlie grew older, stronger, and more experienced she moved to California to become a stagecoach driver. Her new job forced her to be on the road traveling constantly.

Being a stagecoach driver is hard work. You have to be able to battle with the weather, and you have to maintain and control six horses all alone. The worst part of being a stagecoach driver is the highwaymen. Her first (and only) encounter with a highwayman happened on her way back to the stables. He approached her with his knife and an evil expression on his face. He expected her to surrender to him like all his other victims, but Charlie was tougher that what he had anticipated. She fought him off, and when he turned to run away she pulled out her gun and shot him right in the back of the head. No highwayman dared go near her after that. Charlie soon built up the reputation of being one of the safest and fastest stagecoach drivers in all of California.

Charlie drank alcohol and chewed tobacco for the majority of her life, just to blend in with the men. That lifestyle finally caught up with her when she was diagnosed with tongue cancer. Her illness forced her to step down from driving a stagecoach, so she moved away to become a farm hand. She stayed with fellow employee and friend Frank Woodward. Charlie lived with him for years and he never discovered her secret. She figured that if her roommate did not know her true identity then how could the government? Charlie went to register to vote and succeeded. She became the first woman ever in the world to vote in a presidential election. Charlie voted fifty-two years before the amendment that allowed women to vote was passed. Suddenly her life came to an end when she died because of her struggle with tongue cancer in 1879. When the doctor was preparing her body for the funeral he discovered that Charlie was actually a woman. After further examination he found that apart from cancer, Charlie was a healthy woman who had at one time given birth (though there are no physical records telling who the father was or where the baby went). If Charlie has taught us one thing it is that you do not have to be a man to lead your own life, you just have to dress like one.

Obstacles and hardships are something that all untethered women have to face at one time or another. An obstacle that faced Charlie was that she was born in an orphanage. She had to escape, which was difficult enough, but after she got out there was no way to get food or shelter being who she was. The only options she had were either to dress like a boy or starve to death. Another obstacle that stood in her way was her lack of sight in one eye. I can only imagine how hard it must have been to drive a stagecoach without both eyes. The hardest obstacle that she faced was covering up who she really was. At one time it was said that she had given birth. Can you imagine her walking into a bar when she was pregnant saying, “No fellas I just gained a few pounds.” Alcohol and tobacco aside, Charlie was a very brave woman who deserves to be recognized for all her struggles and hardships.

All untethered women have certain characteristics about them. Though they are different from everyone else, they are similar within each other. They are not influenced by the way society would like them to act. They are different and free spirited women who do not fit the mold. Nothing can hold them back and there is no one person who can stop them from doing what they need to do in order to succeed. They see themselves as women here to do nothing but rise to their full potential. Untethered women have an incredible ability to speak their minds. If Charlie were alive today I am positive that she would be in high spirits to see that women no longer have to hide their femininity to succeed in no-traditional roles.

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Ashli Guice, Whittier Middle School

"Bernice Trimble Steadman"

In the past, women have been portrayed as the inferior gender. The woman’s job was considered to be cooking, cleaning, and taking care of children and nothing more. Some courageous women went outside those boundaries and showed men that women, had for so long, been underestimated. The “traditional” woman was coming to an end and women would no longer be held to those low standards…So they had hoped. In society there will always be stereotypes against women saying that we can’t do this or we can’t say that. I always thought that the word can’t shouldn’t be in a person’s vocabulary because you can do anything that you set your mind to do. That word should be replaced with the words strength, perseverance, and determination to do whatever is necessary to achieve your goals. Women are said to give up when things get hard, they gossip too much, they’re too emotional to make stable decisions, they are difficult to work for, and they are constantly changing their minds. These are just some of the stereotypes that society has bestowed upon us women. We won’t let them keep us from our dreams and for the most part are untainted by their opinions.

The story of Bernice Trimble Steadman is an example of an untethered woman who broke through those barriers and overcame those stereotypes. She was born into an ordinary family in the upper –peninsula of Michigan. Her father died in a house fire while trying to rescue her other siblings. Bernice and her mother left the upper –peninsula and went to Pontiac where she had family. Bernice was a high school senior when she made the decision to become a pilot. Her stepfather worked at the Chevrolet plant as an electrician, so they hardly had enough money for her to do such a project. Bernice applied for work in the research department at A.C. Spark Plug because, after all, she was a high school graduate with good grades in math. But she didn’t have a degree in engineering so she became a spark plug inspector. The factory she applied for was in Flint, Michigan where at that time women made the spark plugs in airplanes. Her paychecks were just enough to pay for 30 minute flying lessons, three times a week. She finally got her pilot/s license. This was even before she got her driver’s license!

When Bernice got older she had many more and much greater experiences. She wrote a book called Tethered Mercury about these experiences. She was a flight instructor of the forties, fifties, and sixties. She set a new standard for female pilots by attaining the airline transport rating. In her book she wrote about her many adventurers and accomplishments such as when she was the president of Ninety-Nine which was an international organization of women pilots. She also was an original member of the WACOA, which was the women’s advisory committee of aviation. She not only did all of those things but also was the owner and operator of her own flying service, which was extremely successful. In 1961 thirteen women passed NASA’s physical for the Mercury astronauts and were forced to decide whether or not they wanted a women’s team of astronauts to represent them to the world and in space. In the end they decided not to support the program. In her book, Bernice states her opinions about their decision. She was bewildered by the fact that they felt that women didn’t have the capability to do well in a place considered to be a man’s domain. Bernice Trimble Steadman was truly an untethered woman, even though her opinions were not supported by her own gender. She was courageous enough to speak her mind about how she felt and who she felt it about.

Equality…Opportunity. These words have frequently been used in the world today. But what do they mean? The dictionary definition of equality is sameness in amount, size, number, value, or rank. This concept is supposed to be one of the building blocks of this nation. But the nation has not only gone back on its word of promising equality but also has narrowed women’s chances of opportunity. In becoming an untethered woman Bernice Trimble Steadman had to overcome many obstacles. One being the fact that women in the piloting profession were laughed at and opposed. Even in all the negativity Bernice stood her ground and gained the appreciation and recognition that she was entitled to. As the old saying goes, “Behind every great man stands a woman.” So to be completely honest, in my opinion women are the backbones of our society. So my confusion is why is it that women are seldom recognized for their accomplishments and given encouragement for their endeavors. Many women in many different professions have not had the opportunity to show their full potential because of the lack of equality in our society. Women are tested as if they have no feelings at all. But when the true, intense feelings start to show people complain about them having too many feelings. I have a feeling right now. It is sympathy for those poor, confused souls who can’t seem to make up their minds either way. For many years WOMANkind has been showing society that they can and will do any and everything they set their minds to do. They will defeat and overcome any obstacles that society may throw their way.

Now think back to the introduction. I stated that women were said to give up when times get hard, gossip too much, become too emotional to make stable decisions, are difficult to work for and constantly change their minds. An untethered woman wouldn’t give up; she would strive to attain respect in this world. She wouldn’t gossip about the latest fashion trends; she would have discussions about the latest political subjects or our country’s values such as equal opportunity. She wouldn’t let her emotions get in the way of her profession, but deal with them in a way that would help her to make the best decisions. And in making those decisions she would do her best to meet the needs of each and every person in her surroundings. Like my granny used to say, “Never send a man to do a woman’s job.” Another saying that I’m familiar with is, “If you want it done right the first time do it yourself.” An untethered woman is very bold and optimistic. She is not afraid to voice her opinion to whoever may need to hear it. Self-confidence is a very important characteristic of being an untethered woman. Bernice had plenty of it. An untethered woman is not afraid to take risks and be the truly unique individual that all females are. WOMANkind as a whole has to be strong and independent, so that females in the future can depend on us to give them the encouragement and perseverance they need to become an untethered woman.

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