Hopkins Students Name 2023 Women of Distinction

Mira Krichavsky ’24 Features Editor

The month of March commemorates women’s history in the United States, and this year Hopkins began a new tradition in celebration of women.

The month of March commemorates women’s history in the United States, and this year Hopkins began a new tradition in celebration of women. During Assembly, Hopkins’ first ever Topics in Women’s History class named five female staff members as ‘Woman of Distinction’ on campus. The class selected honorees who “embody kindness, strength, leadership, and compassion” and are “empowering figures in our community.” The 2023 Hopkins Women of Distinction are Marie Doval, Karen Silk, Heather Volosin, Susan Watson, and Kristen Wich.

Marie Doval

For the past 34 years, Marie Doval has been a member of the Hopkins faculty as a Spanish teacher, admissions member, and head advisor until 2021. To Doval, being a part of the faculty “means everything,” and her coworkers “have been an integral part of her life since coming on campus.” Doval describes her time on the hill as “wonderful” and finds Hopkins students to be “smart,” “caring,” and “a joy to be around.” She “cares deeply for her students and wants them to feel the love and know they can count on her.” Doval believes a strong female leader is “caring, strong willed, has high self-esteem, [is] kind, is not afraid to speak her mind, and [is] thoughtful,” and references her mother and Michelle Obama as her personal female role models.

Karen Silk

Most students know Karen Silk as the beloved “voice of Hopkins.” As the front office administrative assistant, she acts as the liaison between Hopkins and the outside world. Though she is not in the classroom, Silk enjoys “being around the students and helping them see there is a big world out there.” In her seventh year on campus, Silk attributes her role as a campus role model to “sharing that smile, being positive, being that person someone feels comfortable talking to.” She also explores the role motherhood plays in female leadership, citing her mother as her strongest role model and describing herself as “a mother of two young adults” and a “people person” which gives her “some years of wisdom in her back pocket."

Kristen Wich

Assistant Director of Athletics Kristen Wich has worked at Hopkins since 2007 and has been a faculty member in our Athletic Department for the past four years. Wich is “proud to represent Hopkins on the athletic field”

and says that her favorite part of coaching is “that special moment when someone does something they didn’t know or think they could do.” She admires “women who find the good in other women and celebrate it.” Wich says, “I want to be a person who will always listen to understand. I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up, and I hope I am showing young women that you can find joy in the process.” Wich considers her personal role models to be her “mother, sisters, and friends. Strong, independent women who chase their dreams while prioritizing their families. I’ve always known that I have everything I need in life because I have them.”

Susan Watson

Susan Watson, currently in her second year on faculty, is Hopkins’ clinical psychologist and Director of Counseling. She “[supports] students’ mental health and well-being” and hopes to “help students better

understand their emotions and learn strategies for how to cope when they are feeling overwhelmed.” Additionally, Watson’s’ work includes helping students “focus on their strengths and expand their definition of ‘success’ to include taking care of and being kind towards themselves.” In addition to counseling, Watson also teaches Intro to Psychology and enjoys “getting to know students and understanding more about their experience while also sharing my love of the study of psychology with them.” Watson aims to “provide an example of a woman in STEM” for her students and “help them think about and understand human behavior and emotions in a new, interesting, and fun way.” She references one of her best friends as “one of the most welcoming, kindest, and inclusive people I have ever known” and “an incredibly bright and accomplished woman, [dedicated to] improving public education in our home state of Mississippi and campaigning for progressive political candidates.” In Watson’s eyes, strong female role models “inspire others with their enthusiasm,” “display genuine interest in and empathy towards others,” “work to make whatever space they inhabit inclusive and nurturing,” and “stay true to their values and beliefs.”

Heather Volosin

As Administrative Assistant to the Head Advisors, Heather Volosin describes her role on the Hill as overseeing “attendance, providing support for the advisers, and [...] daily interaction with the students, especially at the end of year events like Prom, Class Trips and Graduation.” Volosin joined the faculty in 2007 as a member

of the technology department and has been a strong female figure on campus for the 16 years since. She reflects, “Being a role model on campus means the world to me. It means that I am truly seen, that I am thought of, and mostly that I matter. I hope that just being me positively affects someone on campus daily. Funny, but the song ‘Special’ by Lizzo popped into my head, lol.” Volosin’s idea of a strong female role model is someone who “lifts others up, not down,” “always knows when to pivot, when to let things go, and when to keep her head high, not giving up,” and “women who know struggle, but maintain a helping hand and smile to keep others going.” In Volosin’s own life, the people who embody these traits are her mother and Maya Angelou, as she “grew up reading her words of wisdom that forever stayed with me.” Volosin concluded her interview with Angelou’s words that guide her: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Back

online edition

The Student Newspaper of Hopkins School

Hopkins Students Name 2023 Women of Distinction