Students from Grand Valley State University and about 500 area middle and high school students will meet Olympic rower Mary Mazzio and other celebrated women athletes during a screening of Mazzio's film, A Hero for Daisy, Monday in the Kirkhof Center on the Allendale campus.
Mazzio, who competed in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, created the film to celebrate the spirit of Title IX, part of the Education Act of 1972 law which prohibits sex discrimination in educational institutions that receive federal funds.
Named after Mazzio's daughter, Daisy, the film tells the story of Chris Ernst, an Olympic rower who led her Yale crew team in a Title IX protest that left a legacy benefiting today's female athletes.
The 40-minute film will begin at 9 a.m. in the Grand River Room. It will be shown later in the day at Calvin College and at Studio 28, 28th Street in Wyoming.
Group discussions following the film will be led by Mazzio and four others: Joan Garety, who twice won the Michigan Women's Golf Amateur Championship; Joan Boand, who has led GVSU teams to 10 conference championships; Rose Antrim, a four-time All-America basketball selection while at GVSU; and Karri Finlayson, an instructor at North Central Michigan College in Petoskey, who will hike from the North Pole to Russia with a group of women in April.
Mazzio's appearance is sponsored by the Michigan Women's Foundation, American Association of University Women, GVSU, Aquinas College, Calvin College, Kent Intermediate School District, Nokomis Foundation and McLoughlin Communications and Public Relations.
