Councilman King hosted Women’s History Month event
“Presenting today will be extraordinary women who contribute their time and talent to their organizations, the community and the nation.”
That was what the program for last week’s Women’s History (“or Herstory”) Month celebration at the Highland Falls Library, hosted by Town Councilman Tyrone King, his S4L Entertainment Company and the Buffalo Soldiers Association of West Point, said.
By the time it was over, the packed audience agreed — the six women who spoke were indeed extraordinary.
Lt. Col. (r) and Village Trustee Dr. Melanie Guerrero, Col. Bri Perata, Carlys Lemler, Rachel Adelstein, CSM Michel Fraser, and Ann Molina were those speakers, all women who King repeatedly praised for the work they do in the community.
“The whole idea today was to honor some of those among us,” he said. But he also took the time to recognize other women in the audience, as well as Girl Scouts and young girls who participated in the event.
“I suspect that in this room right now is some young lady that’s going to go on to do something big,” King said.
Ann Molina was the first to speak. She’s the director of The Center in Highland Falls, as well as tasked by the Town of Highlands to provide entertainment opportunities for senior citizens in the community. She’s a retired state employee who grew up in Highland Falls. In her remarks, she spoke about women in the community who impacted her life, both growing up and as an adult. Among them, women like the late Kathy Wenner, who was her piano teacher starting in third grade; Loretta Burns, “who wrote a positive letter nearly every week to The News of the Highlands”; Snowdrop Smith, who gave over 25,000 hours of volunteer service to veterans; and Evelyn Drew, who was a founding member of the Town of Highlands Ambulance Corps. Molina’s advice to the young women in the room was “let your behavior speak for you”.
Rachel Adelstein is the principal of the Fort Montgomery Elementary School and soon-to-be the Highland Falls-Fort Montgomery Central School District’s assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and technology.
She spoke about the “women who raised me”, including, of course, her mother (“she gave me so many opportunities to be the person I wanted to be, and never judged me for any of them,” Adelstein said). But she also spoke about her second grade teacher, Mrs. Monahan — “what I remember is how she made me feel” — and said she deserved the credit for Adelstein going into education. She went on to list several other bosses she has had in her career, as well as pod caster Brene Brown.
“I listen to her pod casts and read her books,” Adelstein said, “and believe that she is the one who taught me that it’s okay to wear your heart on your sleeve… in fact, we must lead with our hearts.”
“Presenting today will be extraordinary women who contribute their time and talent to their organizations, the community and the nation.”
Town Councilman Tyrone King
Dr. Melanie Guerrero captured the attention of the audience quickly, speaking about growing up very poor in the Philippines before moving to the United States as a teenager, joining the Army and eventually becoming a doctor. She said that she joined the Army as a way to become a citizen and go to college.
“I signed up as a cook,” she said, but recalled that a recruiter who had seen her aptitude test scores told her ‘you could be a doctor’. He saw something in me that I didn’t see.”
She gave the young people in the audience four tips for their lives ahead: 1) Don’t miss opportunities because you are afraid to take a chance. 2) You’re more likely to enjoy your work if it is something you’ve trained yourself to be good at. 3) Don’t make money the goal. 4) Know when you have enough. Don’t be driven by jealousy or blind ambition.
CSM Michel Fraser is the U.S. Army Garrison at West Point’s Command Sergeant Major. She introduced herself as “a mother, daughter, sister and soldier”.
A native of Conway, South Carolina, she called the Army “the best job I ever had in my entire life,” noting she joined the Army a bit older than Guerrero had. She’s now a 24 year veteran who has been at West Point for just under a year.
Her advice for all of those in the audience was to know the value of connections and the value of teamwork, noting she is a single mother who has had to rely on friends and family to help her “many times” through the years; she specifically called out her grandmother, mother and sister as her strongest role models.
Now, she said, as someone who works with young Army soldiers and officers every day, she said she is “grateful that the Army has entrusted me with these young people”.
Col. Bri Perata, a 23 year veteran of the Army, is the 60th commander of Keller Army Hospital, and the sixth woman to run it. Looking around the room, she noted that “diversity is what brings us here today”, and spoke about women in both the military and in medicine who have had an impact on her life.
As she wrapped up her remarks she reminded the young women in the room to “be you … be your authentic you, and be deliberate and be purposeful”, and reminded the men in the room to “continue to be an ally” for those women. She also reminded all to “take the time to foster those beside you, and those who are coming behind you”.
Carlys Lemler, a Fort Montgomery resident after quite a few years of living on West Point, is the general manager of the Thayer Hotel at West Point, a West Point graduate, and in the community she is the president of the O’Neill High School PTSC and Football Booster Club.
She spoke about growing up in Arizona and not seeing the diversity that she did once she came to West Point. “I grew so much when I came here,” she said, “and discovered my ability to listen and to learn.”
Lemler reminded everyone in the room that they “can do anything with a team beside you” and said that “trying to do the right thing every day” is always important.
She read a poem by Mother Theresa, called ‘Anyway’, noting that she has had it hanging in her home as long as she can remember.
About those young and teen girls who attended the ceremony: King made their day at the end of the ceremony when he passed out a handful of his personal challenge coins to those young women. He did that just before he presented each of the speakers with plaques commemorating the event.