Sabrina Lapointe
Equinox Staff
Not every 21-year-old can call herself woman of the year.
Being compared to women double her age and over, Keene State College senior Krista Sullivan proved that young women can, in fact, have an impact on society.
This year’s Extraordinary Women event was the first, held by The Keene Sentinel, but will now be held annually, according to Sullivan.
Sullivan was one of 20 women recognized in greater Keene for making a notable difference. After growing up in Keene for most of her life, Sullivan is no stranger to the community.
Bran Cantore / Photo Editor: The Keene Sentinel names KSC Senior Krista Sullivan as one of the Extraordinary Women of the Year. Sullivan is a double major in education in woman studies, president of the feminist collective and a part of the honors program.
“I was the youngest [recognized] by far, they were all like forty and fifty up to one hundred and three [years],” Sullivan said.
Sullivan is a double major in education and woman studies, president of the feminist collective, and a member of the Honors Program.
Sullivan shared her beliefs about how KSC guided her in her many respectable accomplishments.
“I had a lot of field experience at Keene State that I probably wouldn’t have gotten at other schools. For my woman’s studies degree we went to a local jail and worked with female inmates,” Sullivan said.
She continued, “Also through the honors program I traveled to Nicaragua in May of 2012. Opportunities like that were here.”
Although Sullivan does not know who nominated her for this Woman of the Year title, she seems to have a large fan base that is very supportive of her and her work.
One of her closest friends, KSC senior Johanna DeBari, had no trouble stating why she believes Sullivan earned such an honorable title.
“She’s always busy, she needs things to do, she needs to be involved in everything, have a schedule and be super busy,” she continued, “She’s a go getter for sure. If she wants something done, she gets it done, but at the same time she’s super down to earth,” DeBari said.
On top of having a strenuous work load and involving herself in multiple organizations, Sullivan’s dedication to helping others has inspired both fellow classmates and professors alike.
Debari said, “She is one of the most inspiring people I have in my life and I tell her that all the time but she’s so modest.”
She continued, “She has been through a lot in her life, she’s struggled through a lot, and the fact that she can come out being so strong and independent and well-spoken is just amazing to me and I look up to her a lot. I feel really honored to be close to her and have a friend like her,” Debari said.
Women and Gender Studies Assistant Professor Patricia Pedroza is not only Sullivan’s advisor, but also shared the experience of traveling to Nicaragua with her. The two have known each other for nearly three years now.
“I honestly admire whoever goes to Central America and survives. It requires a lot of courage. And specifically what I observed about Krista is that she is able to manage situations which are very stressful with a lot of humor and with a maturity,” Pedroza said.
On top of her experiences in Nicaragua with Sullivan, Pedroza has also had the opportunity of having Sullivan in class.
Through classroom experiences, Pedroza gained a substantial amount of respect for Sullivan and how she conducts herself both in and out of class.
“As a student she belongs to the honors class which requires a lot. You need to maintain a high standard in everything so academically she’s smart. But in this case I admire that she’s able to balance her academic learning with the strong activism,” Pedroza said.
Through her time here at Keene State, Sullivan has certainly made her presence known and as a result, she was awarded for it.
The professor said, “What I like about this recognition is usually they recognize ladies that have done things for like 40 years and in this case I’m just so happy that it’s obvious that they paid attention to somebody who is so young compared to all the community leaders.”
“It’s very admirable to me that Krista, with her young age had that impact because all of the other leaders are ahead in the community. I’m just so happy that they recognized someone at Keene State College,” Pedroza continued.
As graduation approaches, Sullivan hopes to make connections between the work she has done here on campus and see how it will lead to something in the future to start a new adventure.
A piece of advice Sullivan leaves for women is this:
“Just go for it. Try new things. I think women sometimes sell themselves short and focus on one task and doing things really well but I prefer to do like a lot of different things and kind of over book myself but somehow get by.”
Sabrina Lapointe can be reached at
slapointe@keene-equinox.com