Photo by Ali Meizels ’23.
Members of the Frances Perkins Scholars cohort shared stories detailing their journeys to MHC.
Melanie Duronio ’26
Features Editor
Content warning: this article mentions addiction, domestic abuse, depression, eating disorders and homelessness.
Students and faculty members alike gathered within Gamble Auditorium for the Frances Perkins Monologues, which returned as the closing event for Mount Holyoke’s annual Building on our Momentum conference on Tuesday, March 28. In honor of the Frances Perkins students’ class color, purple streamers and balloons were placed on either side of the podium, and many FP speakers wore purple outfits to show off their class pride.
According to the FP Monologues ’23 program, “the annual FP Monologues [is] an evening of real-life stories shared by Frances Perkins Scholars and the non-traditional journeys that brought [them] through the gates of Mount Holyoke.” As such, FP Monologues 2023 Emcee, Jen Thornquest ’24, began the event by encouraging audience members to “respond in the non-traditional ways we love,” and throughout the evening the room filled with boisterous cheers, shouts and laughter in support of the speakers.
Nine speakers shared their stories at this year’s Monologues. Many took creative approaches to the traditional speech format by incorporating personal photos, memes and even self-written poetry to reflect their personalities. General themes included perseverance, self-discovery and finding life-long friendships at Mount Holyoke College.
“I would get jealous of groups of women … that had friends they had known since college,” Nic McGrath FP ’24 said. “[Now] I finally get to have a house full of pictures with people I know from college that I will be friends with for the rest of my life.”
McGrath gave the first speech of the night, titled “When Pigs Fly,” where she described her prolonged efforts to go to college despite financial and personal obstacles. Having to juggle between responsibilities as a mother, business owner and the sole provider of her family, she would often tell people, “I’ll go to school when pigs fly.” However, she never forgot the trips she took with her grandmother to Mount Holyoke and Smith College as a child, and when she discovered the Frances Perkins program she “never looked back.”
“I remember telling Carolyn [Deitel, Director of the Frances Perkins Program during] my first interview, ‘I belong here. It’s okay if you have to reject me the first couple times I apply because I will keep fighting until you let me in,’” McGrath said. She ended her speech by reminding the audience “that pigs really do fly, and not to forget that I am still rising.”
Speakers Sheyla Perez FP ’24 also shares a connection to Mount Holyoke with their families. Perez first heard of the Frances Perkins program from her sister, Keishla Perez FP ’24, and together the two applied and were accepted. Sheyla Perez shared a photo taken on the day they received their letters, which shows the two of them jumping in front of the Mount Holyoke College sign, arms outstretched.
“We were just so happy to be able to come here,” Sheyla Perez said.
In her speech, “Trauma Dumptruck,” Ceren Çıtak FP ’23 sharedspeech her experiences with addiction, domestic abuse, homelessness and mental illness as a teenager and young adult. Although these topics are serious, Çıtak felt it was important to share the full details of her journey. She emphasized joy and hope throughout her talk, incorporating her sense of humor through hand-crafted memes. Once accepted into the Frances Scholar program, it took some time for Çıtak to find her place; but once she met her first friend, Emily Rosaci FP ’23, she began to consider Mount Holyoke as her home.
“All you need is one friend. If you were ever just nice to somebody, you have no idea, you could literally be saving their life,” Çıtak said. “And that really segued my way into making a community … All these beautiful people [the FP Scholars] helped me and carried me when I could not carry myself.”
Photo by Ali Meizels ’23.
Frances Perkins Scholars shared their stories with a mix of humor and candor at BOOM! 2023.
Other FP students shared their stories through creative writing. Ace Chandler FP ’26, the 2023 Mount Holyoke nominee for the Glascock poetry contest, read aloud a series of poems from their manuscript “Too Wet To Take.” They described it as being “sort of a story, but [it’s] also … a long poem.”
Leah Drabek FP ’23 read aloud a letter to her younger self, describing her past experiences with addiction, depression and an eating disorder, which all eventually contributed to a life-threatening trip to the hospital. She encouraged her younger self that, despite all of this, she will find people within the FP program who she now considers family and that “will lift you up and teach you how to live a life greater than you've ever imagined.”
“Don’t be afraid to show and share the darkest parts of yourself,” Drabek said. “The moment you accept yourself in your entirety, the dark and the light, is the moment you’ll find freedom.”
Overall, the FP scholars expressed gratitude for the academic and societal opportunity the program has given them, as well as the community of like-minded people they’ve found during their time at Mount Holyoke. “With the FPs they’re a community, and they’re for life,” Lynn Moynahan FP ’23 said.