March is Women’s History Month, a time when women across the world are celebrated and honored for their achievements. 

Some of the Kentucky Kernels staff took to the University of Kentucky’s streets to ask students about important women in their lives. From best friends to grandmas, each student has an important woman in their life. Here are their stories.

A mothers love

Cries echo around a small hospital room and tears slide down tired eyes. A baby has been born and a new mother has been made. 

A mom means something different for everyone, from love and adoration to hatred and resentment, but for Alex Prochaska, a mom means encouragement.

Prochaska, a sophomore special education major, said his mother taught him resilience. He said he remembers her never backing down from a challenge and she taught him to do the same.

“She definitely taught me to never give up on anything,” Prochaska said. “If I fail, I’ll get back up and try it again. It’s going to be fine and I’m going to make it work.”

His mom was a driving force all his life, she never gave up on anything she put her mind to and if people doubted her, she would simply prove them wrong, according to Prochaska.

Growing up Prochaska said his mom saw how he never fit in, she encouraged him to try new experiences time and time again.

“She (his mom) said give it one week. Just go, it’s gonna suck, but you’re gonna do it anyways. So I did,” Procheska said. “I feel like that was kind of the moment where everything fell into place.”

Now that he is in college, Prochaska said his mom showed him how to accept himself, he said he can always call her and she will always tell him it’s ok to fail, as long as you get up and try again, without his mom, he said he wouldn’t know who he is.

“I’m very okay with failure. I kind of embrace it. There’s always something to learn,” Prochaska said. “There is always a lesson to be had. Even in the worst days, the darkest hours, there’s always something to gain from it.”

A woman’s friendship

A simple string ties everyone together, winding through each person, intertwining them, leading to important milestones, pushing and pulling, creating new relationships and leaving old ones behind. 

This string connects soulmates, a person who understands you better than anyone else. This string connects Suiji Thornton and Natalia Fletcher. However, what they have is nothing romantic — it’s a friendship.

For Thornton, a freshman equine science and management double major, everyone has a soulmate. She said each person finds their one true match, someone they can never be away from.

“I feel like often we find a platonic soulmate in life,” Thornton said. “I would definitely say that she’s mine.”

Through their decade-long friendship, Thornton said communication was key to keeping them together. As teenage hormones run rampant, Thornton said she and Fletcher would fight and argue over simple things, such as liking the same guy.

While these arguments could have ruined their friendship, Thornton said despite going to separate high schools, they have always overcome adversity due to their shared life experiences and the love that stemmed from those experiences.

“We have had our ups and downs, like a relationship, but I’ve gone literally through almost all the stages of my life with her,” Thornton said.

Even though they are separated by state lines, one in Kentucky and the other in Virginia, Thornton said she makes an effort to call Fletcher daily, keeping their connection more vigorous than ever. 

Thornton said having a best friend means having another version of herself, someone who knows her better than anyone in the world, a person to guide her through her highest of highs and lowest of lows. She said a world without her best friend is a lonely one.

“It’s so important to have someone that you can always talk to,” Thornton said. “It gets pretty lonely if you don’t have anyone that gets you.”

Thornton said a woman’s friendship is more than support and kindness. It’s true love.

A bond forged through love and faith

While a grandparent’s purpose is undefined, Cate Cole, a freshman marketing major, tells how her grandmother embodies what a grandparent can be: a teacher, a confidant and a role model. 

Cole said her grandmother, Carol Smith, has been a constant source of support, saying she knew she could always count on her for needed insight. 

“When something’s not going right, I know that I can always talk to her about it,” Cole said. “She always has very good advice and she’s very well-spoken.”

Smith’s contributions have also expanded into important lessons about character, according to Cole, as she reminisced on important traits, such as kindness and how to present herself, that her grandmother has emphasized since childhood. 

“She means everything love in this world,” Cole said. “She teaches me how to love others and how to treat others.”

Always sparking a good memory, Cole said one of the most meaningful bonding moments between her and her grandmother was accompanying her to church as Smith introduced Cole to her faith. 

“She always instilled in my mind religion, and how important it is to have God in your life,” Cole said. 

With Smith losing her mom at 19, Cole said her grandmother has found solace in religion throughout her life, serving as an example of what faith can provide someone. 

“It kind of speaks to me,” Cole said. “I know my grandma has dealt with a lot, but she always tells me just to pray about it and just have strong faith in things like that.”

In finding a common dedication to their faith, Cole and Smith’s relationship has not only deepened but blossomed into a comfort for them both, forever strengthening their bond as grandmother and granddaughter.

A role model

People all over the world have role models. For a lot of women it’s one of their parents, a sibling or a family member. For one University of Kentucky student it’s an Olympian equestrian rider who always keeps a joyful gleam and friendly point of view.

Rebecca Holcomb is a freshman equine science major who does equestrian riding, and through her positive attitude and constant smiles, she said Jessica Phoenix continues to inspire Holcomb. 

Phoenix is a Canadian eventing equestrian rider and Olympian. She took Holcomb under her wing and let her work with her for two years, helping her learn the ropes of equestrian riding. 

“She inspires me because she’s just such a good-hearted person. Whenever she went to the Olympics and all these other higher-level competitions, she gets called the smiling assassin because she’s always smiling and just having a good time. She’s so nice to everyone that she meets, and she’s able to do that and be so successful,” Holcomb said. 

According to Holcomb, Phoenix is an example of why it’s important to have a positive attitude and how it can lead to success. 

“I see oftentimes, like in the sport, that people are so overwhelmed with the competition that they lose a sense of themselves. So it’s kind of just amazing to see like her be able to do everything that she’s able to,” Holcomb said. 

Being able to see how Phoenix runs her business and how she was able to make enough money to work to embrace her passion just gives further reason to why Holcomb looks up to her, according to Holcomb.  

“It inspires me also that I always want to be a good person, and I don’t want anything to hold me back from being able to do that, and she’s a good example of someone who is able to do that,” Holcomb said. 

A mothers strength 

Landon Deaton is someone with a strong religious faith. His faith did not come on completely independently, though. He credited that to his mother. 

Deaton said his experiences growing up with his mother taught him about the joy other people could bring but also inspired him to share his faith as another way of helping people.

He said his mother would drive back and forth between the University of the Cumberlands and Manchester, Kentucky, where she lived, because her parents could not afford to send her to college. Deaton said his mom would work throughout the day and attend night classes.

“Her story just exemplifies grit to me,” Deaton said. “She was really good at staying strong for me and my brother, she was able to show you could be a warrior in hard times.”

Deaton said she went to school to become an educator, and later became a teacher, but in her mid-thirties she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis which he said she still struggles with. 

“She was really young, and obviously when you’re in your thirties I’m sure you think you’re in the peak of your life and your career and with family and marriage and whatnot … it kind of threw her for a loop,” Deaton said.

Like Deaton himself, he said his mother was also very strong in her faith. Her display of it inspired him and taught him that even though he may face hard times, he has a greater purpose.

“We’re not meant to do this (live life) alone, we’re meant to care for people,” Deaton said. “I took a lot after her, in my opinion, because she was just such an amazing mother.”

Deaton said his faith led him to work at Cru, one of the Christian student ministries at UK.

“I see a lot of brokenness on our campus, a lot of students that feel like they don’t have a purpose in life,” Deaton said. “I just love being able to meet new people but also trying to care for them, ask them ‘Hey, how was your day, how can I pray for you or be here for you?’”

Deaton said his mother’s story could inspire other people in the way it inspired him to be “sacrificial” in his care for others.

“If you are sacrificial in helping someone, that’s never going to be a waste. People are always in need,” Deaton said.

An “I love you”

A smile lay on each student’s face as they talked about the women they admire. Women are everywhere in these students’ lives.

As Women’s History Month wraps up, through this story, students made sure to tell these important women in their lives one simple message — I love you.