March is Women’s History Month, and the Center for Women’s Studies has created the Women’s “Herstory” project to celebrate it.

In the month of “herstory,” women will tell their own stories and name their heroine, said Coordinator of the Center for Women’s Studies Emily Kelley.

“It’s an effort to get young women on campus involved with Women’s History Month,” Kelley said. “The challenge was to either dress as their heroine in history or get a picture of their heroine and hold it.”

All participants decided to use a photo of their heroine instead of dressing up, said Director of the Center for Women’s Studies Lynne Rieff.

Kelley said senior Claire Eagle, a public history student, will place these photos in an exhibit in Collier Library in early March.

People should discuss Women’s History Month more, said junior Kevin Williams.

“I didn’t even know there was a Women’s History Month,” he said. “It’s not marketed as well as Black History Month.”

Kelley said she decided to do this project after reading about the women’s center at the University of Connecticut doing a similar event.

“The Center for Women’s Studies is always looking for different ideas for programming and ways to involve students and faculty,” Rieff said. “We had thought about doing something like this in the past, and finding this done in another school gave us that push. We thought with Women’s History Month coming up, this would be a great time to do this.”

Kelley said her main goal for this project is to have more participants in the future.

“This year we only had a few people agree to do this,” she said. “One student, one professor, one alumna and two staff members. I’m really hoping that as time goes by that we will have more participants, students in particular.”

Kelley said she has already chosen her hero.

“My heroine is Eleanor Roosevelt,” she said. “It’s for a number of reasons. She did not have a happy marriage, but she overcame this unhappiness. She was one of the first ladies who took their role seriously. When the president couldn’t walk, she was his legs.”

Rieff said her hero was Barbara Jordan, an African-American congresswoman from Texas.

The first time I ever heard Jordan speak on television was when I was 15,” she said. “It was during the time of the Watergate Scandal. What I remembered about her was her voice. That’s what drew me in, that commanding, strong, eloquent voice.”

This is an important project for women to get involved with, said senior Ashley Smith.

“If you want this to be recognized and you want these things to keep happening, then you have to make sure to be involved,” she said.

Kelley said she hopes students enjoy the exhibit.

“This exhibit can create a powerful experience for students,” she said. “I want students to be able to leave with more knowledge. I also hope students will be motivated to come to the Women’s Center.”