Everything we’ve encountered through this journey was more than we could have ever imagined and hoped for. As students, we believed we did not have the ability to make this type of impact on the NDSU Community and what initially started as a classroom project became a powerful movement on campus. What started as a hashtag and some articles turned into so much more.

#NDSUFeminist is the legacy we are leaving this spring semester. The conversation on feminism began, and that was what we wanted. By now, we like to think we have broken the negative barrier of feminism and created conversation about what feminism is, different types, and how you may be a feminist yourself, even if you thought otherwise. We have only touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to feminist topics, but we hope there will be more activists out there to support our feminist cause.

We were not the only activism project out there this spring, and to see the impact has been amazing. We had the opportunity to support another group’s project which was called #NDSUbeYOUtiful. This project was asking women and men what they love most about themselves. It was as simple as taking a selfie and telling the world what you love about yourself to show that everyone is beautiful inside and out. It is a huge endeavor to truly be able to say “I love my body” and this activism group has reached out to NDSU and started a conversation. It’s been incredible to watch both activism groups grow.

Our project has gone through a lot of obstacles this semester, but of course any form of activism will have some ups and downs. Our group members experienced hateful comments on twitter and other negative comments, but that allowed us to see an opportunity and to actively search for ways that we could inform readers of misconceptions. And the positive encouragement across campus has been widespread and reminded us why we started what we did.

So we wanted to leave you with a goodbye, but hope that this inspires NDSU students to become activists themselves and to stand up and support something they believe in. Activism is hard, but if it is something you truly believe in, it is always worth it. Being an activist can be something as little as starting a trending hashtag, just as long as you are creating conversation and we hope that the conversation on feminism will continue, because this isn’t goodbye; it’s see you later. Thank you for taking part in this movement and allowing us to talk about feminism.

Carly Deal, Junior, Women and Gender Studies and International Studies

Jessica Murray, Senior, Human Development and Family Science

Cassandra Wood, Senior, App. and Retail Merchandising Design

Hannah Stevens, Senior, English