As the country prepares to enter Women’s History Month, CVW reflects on contributions by local women.

By Mary O’KEEFE

March is celebrated as Women’s History Month in the United States, a time that is set aside to recognize and honor the contributions of women throughout history. As a woman-owned and operated small business, Crescenta Valley Weekly understands that we all stand on the shoulders of women who have come before us, inspiring us with a spirit of courage and leadership. These women include Agnes Richards, the founder of Rockhaven Sanitarium.

Although Rockhaven has long been closed, the history of this haven for women recovering from mental illness is important to remember. Agnes, a nurse, founded Rockhaven in 1923 as a place where women would be treated with respect and would be safe. She knew that too often women were victimized rather than treated at sanitariums and she created a safe place where they could recover and live out their lives with dignity. Agnes may not have set out to break glass ceilings but she did – not only by opening a place that focused on women’s mental health but also because she was a savvy business woman in a time when a “woman’s place was in the home.”

Throughout the month, CVW will be highlighting the contributions to society made by women. CVW invites readers to share their stories of women who have made a positive difference in their lives.

Women’s History Month originally was just a week long and incorporated March 8 – National Women’s Day. It continued as a week of recognition until the National Women’s History Project petitioned Congress in 1987 for a Women’s History Month. Between 1988 and 1994, Congress passed additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the President to proclaim March of each year as Women’s History Month. Since 1995 presidents have issued a series of annual proclamations designating the month of March as Women’s History Month, according to womenshistorymonth.gov.

One local woman currently making a difference in her role as leader is Lyn Repath-Martos. For many years she has been the lead mentor for the Crescenta Valley High School 589 Falkon robotics team. Repath-Martos works at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and started as a volunteer for the Falkons but soon began taking on more responsibilities until she found herself a lead mentor. She inspires 589 members, both boys and girls, to reach for their dreams regardless of gender.

“It took me a long time to find JPL,” Repath-Martos said.

A La Cañada native, she spent four years in Spain and didn’t know she was looking for a place like JPL – but when she did she knew she found her place in the world.

“[It’s a] place where I can do good,” she said noting that the contributions of inspirational women surround her.

“There are so many unsung powerful women who really helped build the space program,” she said, noting that the human computer program started at JPL in the 1930s and ’40s.

“Human computers” were women who either had degrees in mathematics or were just very good at math. These women performed hundreds of thousands of mathematical calculations that were crucial to the U.S. space program and eventually became some of the first computer programmers at NASA. Barbara “Barby” Canright was the first female human computer at JPL.

Repath-Martos said the work these women performed laid the foundation for the space program and their influence can be linked to the recent Mars 2020 landing.

“In the 1950s and ’60s [most] women were in the home, not in the workplace,” she said. She added these computer-savvy women may not have been out demonstrating or burning bras in protest but were equally important to the women’s rights movement.

“They were knuckling down, doing their jobs and creating a place for other women,” she said.

A couple of weeks ago JPL offered an opportunity for workers to stop and reflect on their lives, to stop and listen to colleagues about their experiences at JPL.

“As an under-represented gender I found it to be a powerful event,” she said.

The NASA/JPL program is a positive, colleague-bonding program that is especially valuable in this time of pandemic isolation.

For her robotics students, Repath-Martos has created an atmosphere in which members feel they have the freedom to be exactly who they are regardless of gender.

Adarsh Chilkunda is a senior at CVHS and member of 589. He plans on majoring in computer programming in college. He said one of the women who inspired him is Katherine Johnson, a pioneering mathematician and human computer at NASA. Her story was shared in the film “Hidden Figures.” She made history as one of the first Black women to work at NASA as a scientist.

“Her determination in pursuing [her career] and all the challenges she faced as a woman [of color was inspiring],” Chilkunda said.

He said he is also inspired by STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] and Celine Young, his math teacher at Rosemont Middle School, and Repath-Martos of 589.

“And my mom, seeing her manage all of her work,” he added. His mother works in computer science. He said it was inspiring seeing how she balanced her work and family.

“She took a break to raise my brother and me, then started back as a volunteer until getting back to work,” he said.

He said these women inspire him to work with everyone equally. He has brought that fairness of mind to his mentorship in the Girl Scouts robotics program.

Jaya Hamkins is another member of 589 and a CVHS senior. She plans on becoming a bio-medical engineer. She said she knows two women who continue to inspire her.

“It’s a tie between my mom and my aunt,” she said. “Mom is an electrical engineer at JPL. She gave me an appreciation for STEM.”

She added that her mom, Meera Srinivasan, gave her the appreciation of the “beautiful complexities of science.”

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted that technology professionals will experience the highest growth in job numbers from now to 2030 but only a fraction of girls and women are likely to pursue degrees that enable them to fulfill those jobs, according to a Microsoft/KRC Research study.

“It is something I have noticed,” Hamkins said. “In elementary school, a bunch of [girls]  were interested in math but in middle school it tapered off.”

Hamkins knows how important it is to make STEM interest “normal” for girls and appreciates her mom’s support.

“[She] never at any point said girls are not supposed to do this,” she said.

Her aunt, Jahnavi Srinivasan, is a professor of surgery and the program director of general surgery residency at Emory University School of Medicine. She, too, has inspired Hamkins by lauding her success as a female in STEM as normal.

“Mom says math is both the queen and servant of the sciences,” Hamkins added.

Meera showed her daughter how math is used in everyday situations and “tied into the world around us.” Hamkins added she never had that “wow” moment that others often do when seeing a woman who looks like them in STEM then realizing they can do that that, too. She thinks because her mother and aunt made science careers for girls seem so normal it never occurred to her she couldn’t be in a STEM career.

She has noticed though that women in STEM seem to be more concerned about failure. When men fail they are allowed to learn from it but when a woman fails she seems to carry her entire gender with her.

Hamkins is also a mentor with the Girl Scouts robotics program and works to create an atmosphere in which failing is considered just a step to success.

“Through mentoring Girl Scouts I encourage them to try ideas and allow them to fail,” she said.