Curate-sponsored talk addresses the seasons of relationships

Three women in dif­ferent stages of rela­tion­ships will be addressing female stu­dents about friendship, sin­gleness, and dating at a Curate-spon­sored event this Sat­urday, Nov. 13, at 10 a.m. in the Mauck Solarium. 

The event, called “The Seasons of Rela­tion­ships,” will last until 11:30 a.m. Coffee, chai, bagels, and pas­tries from Penny’s will be offered.

“The focus of this event is rela­tion­ships– the dif­ferent types of rela­tion­ships you have while in college, how those rela­tion­ships change, and how to approach some of these changes,” said Ashlyn Neveau, director of student pro­grams at Hillsdale and co-founder of Curate. 

A panel of three women, Dean of Women Rebecca Dell, Jenny Pridgeon, an admis­sions coun­selor at the college, and Hadiah Ritchey, project manager for Career Ser­vices, will discuss rela­tionship stages, fol­lowed by a Q&A hosted by senior Vika Nunez. Neveau said she and Dell came up with the idea for Curate over lattes at Rough Draft. 

“Curate started a couple of years ago as a way of organ­i­cally con­necting female mentors in the com­munity with our college women,” Neveau said. 

She said it seeks to connect young female stu­dents with female adult role models, pro­viding genuine con­ver­sation, support, com­munity, devel­opment, and perspective. 

Neveau said enabling college women to hear from older women about healthy rela­tion­ships fits with Curate’s mission. 

“Rela­tion­ships make up a huge part of our lives, and these speakers each have wise things to say about some­thing so important to us as women,” Neveau said. “It’s so easy to idolize other stages of life and rela­tion­ships, but there’s a better way to live. These women have walked through friendship, sin­gleness, and dating as Hillsdale stu­dents, and this event is a great oppor­tunity to ask your honest questions.” 

Sophomore Julianna Undseth said she is excited to attend the event. She said she enjoyed the speakers at the 2021 Curate Summit.

“It kind of felt like I was drinking from a firehose,” she said. “But it was really refreshing because you’re inun­dated with the truth and reminded of rela­tion­ships, com­munity, and the fel­lowship of being with women who want to honor and follow God.” 

Hillsdale Res­i­dence Life Coor­di­nator Rachel Marinko said oppor­tu­nities for college stu­dents to talk about rela­tion­ships are valuable. 

“I would encourage girls to come because I know these women have such great things to say about rela­tion­ships,” Marinko said.

Sophomore Ingrid Dornbier said Curate events provide time for cul­ti­vation and encouragement. 

“There is some­thing about joining a com­munity of women who only want to see you grow into the best version of yourself you can be that is truly life-changing,” Dornbier said. “Do yourself a favor and attend. You’ll be better because of it.”