The colors of paint and plants blossomed at the University of New Mexico Women’s Resource Center as students planted slips of paper with wishes to grow alongside their plants, and built connections to grow with their college experiences.
“Think of a goal you want to manifest, and you can put it in your pot so it can grow too,” WRC administrative assistant Kylie Hanson said at the event, encouraging students who were gathered to paint clay pots.
On Thursday, Oct. 23, the UNM’s WRC held its “Plant and Rant” event in the courtyard of the WRC, hosted by the UNM-WRC Women in STEM and Asian American Pacific Islander Resource Center.
The event was created for all genders with the intent to share thoughts and experiences from those who are in fields of male-dominated areas.
Hot pink flyers themed from the movie “Mean Girls,” with topics on internalized misogyny, imposter syndrome and questions to produce critical conversation, laid on the tables. On the flyer was the “Mean Girls” Burn Book, with examples of toxic behaviors. Alongside students’ plants, dialogues and support systems bloomed.
“Some people just organically had their own conversations,” Hanson said.
Apart from talk, participants received a small pot and plate and numerous choices of paint to decorate. Once the paint dried, but before planting seeds, students could write on a small piece of paper a goal or dream to grow in the pot with their plant.
Some of the goals and wishes written by students included being kinder to themselves or being more gentle throughout the semester. Participants would place their papers into the pots then choose a seed.
A spread of different flower seeds was provided, such as red sun sunflowers or calendula, along with watering and sunlight exposure instructions to ensure a successful growth. Seventeen students filled the freshly painted pots with soil, added some water, and left the event to continue growing their flowers.
“Plant and Rant” started three years ago with previous student employee Gabriella Salmeron-Ceballos. Hanson said that Salmeron-Ceballos, who graduated with a bachelors in biochemistry this May, created different events where STEM or other students could come together and talk about their struggles in male-dominated fields and how to support one another, Hanson said.
“Gabby did anything from workshops on imposter syndrome to ‘Plant and Rant;, talking about different aspects of women in male dominated fields and helping empower students,” Hanson said.
Although Salmeron-Ceballos graduated, Hanson continues the tradition along with many other events, including an upcoming Halloween event.
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The next event, hosted by UNM’s Children Campus Department, is the Halloween Family Fun event on Friday, Oct. 31, focused on parenting students and their children. Hanson said that the goal of the Halloween Family Fun event is to not only to help the Parenting Students program, but to “make the campus more family friendly.”
“We’ve been doing the most programming we’ve ever done the past year, because we’ve had so many more student employees with us and so many more opportunities with our funding from (the Student Fee Review Board),” Hanson said.
Marina Olmstead is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on X @DailyLobo
