Only one student attended the Diversity Chat “I am a Woman” at Kent State at Stark yesterday when panelists talked about the life of a mother who works and goes to class.

“I grew up in a home where my mom was at home all day long,” said Rachel Figueroa marketing coordinator at Stark and one of the panelists. “It’s very different being a mom and a full-time worker.”

The only attendee was Sammesha Wright, 28, a sophomore undeclared major at Stark, who is the mother of four children and works as a seasonal worker doing taxes.

Clips from the TV show Desperate Housewives showed Lynette, a mother, spouse and worker, with whom panelists and Wright learned they can relate to. Participants discussed how difficult it is for women with so many responsibilities to ask for help and recognize that they are allowed to fail sometimes.

Participants also talked about time management, which Wright said was the most helpful aspect of the discussion for her.

“That’s my main thing, time management and organization,” said Wright. “I probably can do it by myself, it’s just finding the time to even to do (it).”

Panelists and a student talked about how shopping and alone time help them to relax and get away and how their ultimate goal is to live a balanced life in which they have time for everything.

Lisa Givan said this is the second year Kent Stark holds the event and it was successful last year. Givan said she will look into what might have been different this time.

Wright said she hoped more students had attended to the panel yesterday. She added that she knows of more mothers at Stark, but that she learned at the event she is “not the only one” with problems

—Mariana Silva