PDS is proud of two of our families who organized one of the more than 650 women’s marches that took place on Saturday, January 21, all across the globe. Lisa Kaul P’20 and Paulina Bren P’22 spent two weeks organizing the permits and connecting with local authorities to ensure the event was legal and safe.

The purpose of the Poughkeepsie Women’s March Across the Hudson was to provide a platform for supporters of equality to rally and march in the promotion of civil rights for all— regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability, religion or creed.

PDS parents and staff volunteered their support and professional services, including Christine Agro P’22, Stacy Mesler P’18,’22,’25 and Mark Metzger P’21, who offered their legal advice, and Christina Powers P’18,’20 who handled publicity. Student Zsofi ’22 created the event logo and spoke to the middle school about the importance of the march.  Nachman ’20 rallied the high school students to attend the historic event.

Many of our students and their parents attended the march in Poughkeepsie, but others attended events in Washington, DC, and New York City as well. Said Grace ’24, who traveled to New York City, “I felt empowered because there were all these people who agreed with me.” Leo ’24 participated in the DC march and said, “It is important to stand up for others.” Tyler ’24 marched over the Hudson to “…show support. I don’t think there is enough equality everywhere.” Henry ’24 also attended the march in Poughkeepsie. “I feel there isn’t enough equality for women, black people and LGBTQ. I wanted to show my support.”

Lisa and Paulina were expecting 2,000 people to show up. Instead the crowd was estimated between 5,000 and 6,000 people.

“We didn’t know what we were getting into,” said Paulina Bren. “We had to go back and redo our permit (crowd estimates) five times.” (http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/news/local/2017/01/21/womens-march-walkway-poughkeepsie-trump/96877094/)

Organizer Lisa Kaul says, “It gives people the courage to see that there are other people like them with similar views. It’s a very small thing, but it actually has a huge effect and that’s why the local activism is so important. A kid realizes that, yes, he has a voice. It gives me tremendous hope.” (http://www.recordonline.com/news/20170121/marchers-voices-carry-across-walkway)