Frances Perkins Scholars share their journeys to Mount Holyoke

BY 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 incorpo- rating 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

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