Sexual Assault Prevention Week: Take Back The Night
Editor-in-Chief: Lesli Molina Rodriguez
On a Wednesday afternoon I got the opportunity to attend Take Back the Night that was hosted by the Panhellenic Council and Cultural Greek Council. The President of the Panhellenic Council, Emma Wolfe, and the President of the Cultural Greek Council, Aicha Toure welcomed and thank us all for attending the event. Many students and faculty had showed up to show their support for all the survivors.
The event first started with representatives from the local YWCA. A current Lycoming College student (Abigail Bracken) is currently interning there and had the opportunity to talk about the YWCA and what it does. She also had the opportunity to inform us how many people are impacted by sexual assault. Another representative from the YWCA (Rebecca Hosier) followed up and gave us more information about the YWCA and what resources they provide for everyone. If you even need help from the YWCA you can call (570) 322-4637 or go to their local office at 815 W 4th St, Williamsport, PA 17701. You can also call YWCA’s Wise Options confidential hotline at 1-800-326-8483 to speak to a caring advocate.
Following them President Trachte from Lycoming College also had the opportunity to speak to the audience to show his support to the survivors. He would like to let everyone know that “we hear you; we see you; we believe you, and we support you.” To show that Lycoming College’s stance on Sexual assault they will be opening an alliance house hopefully next year to help and support victims.
We then got the opportunity to get Keynote Speaker Gigi Kilroe to speak to the campus about sexual assault. She has recently released a book called From Within: My Path of Hope and Healing from Sexual Abuse. Gigi Kilroe worked as a special education teacher for 9 years and then as supervisor for special education 23 years. Kilroe mentioned that her passion has always been working with students with special needs, but now that has evolved as she herself is a survivor of sexual assault. Her hope is to spread the message of hope and share her journey of healing because she believes that everyone deserves to heal. Kilroe talked to everyone about her experience of sexual assault and what her actions after consisted of. If you would like to know more about her journey, please give her book a read. She would like to let everyone know that “There is help available, you don’t need to struggle alone.”
After that the podium was left open for anyone who would like to speak about their experiences or preform. A Lycoming College student had the courage to go up and speak about her experience with sexual assault and wanted to encourage everyone who have been survivors to seek help.
To finish the night off candles were passed around where attendees were able to share and pass around the fire candle to candle. A moment of silence was then held for all the survivors of sexual assault. Overall, the event was very impactful and showed how many people support sexual assault survivors. If you are a survivor of sexual assault just know that there is help if you need it, don’t be scared to reach out for help. You are strong and can get through this.
