The theme of the 2025 Curate is “Horizons.” Courtesy | Curate

Curate will host its sixth annual women’s summit this Saturday at the Searle Center, and women are encouraged to register for a day of activities, book giveaways, and seminars, according to Director of Student Programming Rachel Marinko ’20.

Check-in will start at 9 a.m. and Dean of Women Rebekah Bollen will kick off the summit at 10 a.m. with a talk on this year’s theme, Horizons.

“The whole theme of the summit, ‘Horizons,’ is designed to equip the young women of the campus so that they can go out with confidence,” Assistant Director of Student Activities Emma Widmer ’24 said.

Breakout sessions at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 2 p.m. will feature speakers on topics such as dating, women’s health, and friendship, Marinko said. 

Activities will include dried flower arranging, leather stamping, and raffles. Local business Hillsdalian Goods will sell T-shirts, stickers, keychains, mugs, and other items at a discounted price at the event. Curate will provide breakfast and lunch at the event. The summit will end at 3 p.m., although women are not required to attend the whole event.

“There’s so many great talks. It’s fun to come to the whole thing, but you can kind of pop in and out,” Marinko said.

According to Marinko, Curate was founded in 2020 as a way to mentor women at Hillsdale.

“There’s so many amazing women at Hillsdale, and this is our one time of year where a lot of them are coming back and intentionally taking a lot of time to craft these talks very specifically for the students of Hillsdale,” Marinko said. “There’s not a lot of other opportunities where you can see all these amazing women in one spot.”

Most speakers are Hillsdale alumnae, Widmer said.

“They’ve been exactly where you are and have done it and have gone out into the world, and are now coming back to share what they’ve learned and are able to share to enrich your experience even more,” Widmer said. “You really can’t put a price on it. It’s just a really fun day.”

Junior Eden Ryan said she will attend this year’s Curate summit for the first time.

“I think conferences are a really good thing to go to because it’s slow-paced learning instead of the busyness of classes,” Ryan said.  “It reminds you that you’re not just a student, you’re also a person that’s going to live in the world one day.”