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fandomhigh2018-09-23 08:13 pm
gobrookeyourself) wrote in fandomhigh2018-09-23 08:13 pm
Entry tags:
Badass Women You Should Know- Monday- 2nd period
The students had been instructed to meet at the causeway today, because they had a portal to catch. Once they'd gone through and gotten to their destination, in a bustling downtown area, Brooke started to talk.
"Welcome to Manila!" she announced. "This is in the Phillippines, a country in Asia, and today we're going to talk about one of its natives, Fe Villanueva del Mundo. She was born here in 1911, one of eight kids. Three died in infancy, and she had a sister who died when she was eleven. That sister wanted to become a doctor for the poor, so Fe was inspired to follow her lead. So she enrolled in the University of the Phillippines in Manila, graduated as valedictorian, then went on to get her medical degree, specializing in pediatrics. After that, the president offered her a full scholarship to any school in the US to get more training, and she chose Harvard, because of course you choose Harvard. Here's the thing, though: Harvard didn't accept female students yet. If you're new here, you're going to figure out how bad we are with racism and sexism, and this is one example," she said, because this was a thing and she needed to get that out there. "Somehow she ended up enrolled anyway, and no one realized it until she ended up in the men's dorm, because that's all they had."
Wisely, and also miraculously, Brooke didn't say what she felt the obvious perk was.
"And instead of kicking her out, the admissions board looked at her record and decided they'd be idiots to let her go, so she got to stay at Harvard as the first woman admitted, the first woman in pediatrics, and the first Asian person admitted. No, I don't know if she still had to stay in the men's dorms," Brooke added. "She finished three pediatric courses, went on to the hospital at the University of Chicago, and then started a research fellowship at Harvard's Medical School Children's hospital while she earned a Master's degree in bacteriology, which I didn't even know was a thing till I started researching this. Then in 1941, she returned here to the Phillippines, right before the apanese invaded during World War II. Fe joined up with the Red Cross and volunteered to care for children detained at an internment camp, earning her the name 'The Angel of Santo Tomas.' The hospice where she worked was shut down, and the mayor asked her to head up a children's hospital that became a full care medical center, because, you know, war, and she stayed as the hospital's director until 1948.
"And that's because she hated red tape and all that mess that came with working for a government hospital, so she sold her home and all her stuff and used it to finance her own hospital in Quezon City in 1957, called the Children's Medical Center. It was the first pediatric hospital in the Phillippines. Since she'd sold everything to pay for it, she went ahead and lived in the hospital. There were some financial issues with it, but she gave up her ownership of the place to a board of trustees, and eventually it was saved by a company to keep it open. Fe wanted to spend her time actually caring for patients, waking up at five am every morning and doing rounds all day, even when she was ninety-nine years old and in a wheelchair. She died in 2011, not long before her hundredth birthday, and the hospital is now renamed in her honor.
"So, that's her. If nobody has any questions-" Oh god. "-I'm going to let you wander a little till we have to go back. I have to warn you that the primary language here isn't English, so maybe pair up with people, or get a group together, and maybe don't wander too far. I kind of need to come back with all of you."
"Welcome to Manila!" she announced. "This is in the Phillippines, a country in Asia, and today we're going to talk about one of its natives, Fe Villanueva del Mundo. She was born here in 1911, one of eight kids. Three died in infancy, and she had a sister who died when she was eleven. That sister wanted to become a doctor for the poor, so Fe was inspired to follow her lead. So she enrolled in the University of the Phillippines in Manila, graduated as valedictorian, then went on to get her medical degree, specializing in pediatrics. After that, the president offered her a full scholarship to any school in the US to get more training, and she chose Harvard, because of course you choose Harvard. Here's the thing, though: Harvard didn't accept female students yet. If you're new here, you're going to figure out how bad we are with racism and sexism, and this is one example," she said, because this was a thing and she needed to get that out there. "Somehow she ended up enrolled anyway, and no one realized it until she ended up in the men's dorm, because that's all they had."
Wisely, and also miraculously, Brooke didn't say what she felt the obvious perk was.
"And instead of kicking her out, the admissions board looked at her record and decided they'd be idiots to let her go, so she got to stay at Harvard as the first woman admitted, the first woman in pediatrics, and the first Asian person admitted. No, I don't know if she still had to stay in the men's dorms," Brooke added. "She finished three pediatric courses, went on to the hospital at the University of Chicago, and then started a research fellowship at Harvard's Medical School Children's hospital while she earned a Master's degree in bacteriology, which I didn't even know was a thing till I started researching this. Then in 1941, she returned here to the Phillippines, right before the apanese invaded during World War II. Fe joined up with the Red Cross and volunteered to care for children detained at an internment camp, earning her the name 'The Angel of Santo Tomas.' The hospice where she worked was shut down, and the mayor asked her to head up a children's hospital that became a full care medical center, because, you know, war, and she stayed as the hospital's director until 1948.
"And that's because she hated red tape and all that mess that came with working for a government hospital, so she sold her home and all her stuff and used it to finance her own hospital in Quezon City in 1957, called the Children's Medical Center. It was the first pediatric hospital in the Phillippines. Since she'd sold everything to pay for it, she went ahead and lived in the hospital. There were some financial issues with it, but she gave up her ownership of the place to a board of trustees, and eventually it was saved by a company to keep it open. Fe wanted to spend her time actually caring for patients, waking up at five am every morning and doing rounds all day, even when she was ninety-nine years old and in a wheelchair. She died in 2011, not long before her hundredth birthday, and the hospital is now renamed in her honor.
"So, that's her. If nobody has any questions-" Oh god. "-I'm going to let you wander a little till we have to go back. I have to warn you that the primary language here isn't English, so maybe pair up with people, or get a group together, and maybe don't wander too far. I kind of need to come back with all of you."