For the 75 female students at Marian Middle School, attending a screening of Hidden Figures was likely more than just a field trip.
The film follows the true story of three female mathematicians—Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson—who were instrumental in NASA’s successful effort to put astronaut John Glenn into orbit in 1962.
Discover fun things to do with the family
Subscribe to the St. Louis Family newsletter for family-friendly things to do and news for local parents, sent every Monday.
See also: Review of Hidden Figures
A private screening of Hidden Figures at the Chase Park Plaza Cinema was possible thanks to a donation from the Archway chapter of The Links, Incorporated, a nonprofit focused on maintaining and enriching the cultural and economic survival of African-Americans and others of African ancestry, according to its website. The Links also sponsored a related essay contest for each grade level.
Marian Middle School president Mary Elizabeth Grimes hopes the film served as an example of how sacrifices of the past can serve as a launch pad into the future for the fifth- through eighth-graders attending the all-girls Catholic school in St. Louis that serves a religiously diverse population.
“It was a wonderful experience for all of them,” Grimes says. “Our students are studying many areas in the STEM [science, technology, engineering, and math] field, and for them to see that African-American women had a significant role… in the NASA program has really gone a long way toward them knowing their dreams can be fulfilled.”
African-American girls make up the majority of Marian’s student body, which also includes girls of Hispanic, Caucasian, and Asian origin, according to the school’s current fact sheet. More than 90 percent of students also qualify for free or reduced meals under the National School Lunch Program.
Grimes says the protagonists of Hidden Figures prove people can achieve greatness, no matter their race, gender, or socioeconomic status.
“They accomplished so much,” she says. “Girls everywhere, they stand on the shoulders of women who were courageous enough to be in those positions and, in spite of the obstacles, prove they could be in those positions, stand strong, and continue to contribute to society.”
Soon, the girls at Marian will have a whole new space to hone their own skills. The school expects to open phase one of its Berges Innovation Center in March.
The center is made possible, in part, by a $250,000 gift from the Berges Family Foundation. It will include a STEM lab, a maker’s space complete with traditional and technological tools, and a maker’s library with dedicated spaces and resources—including a large Promethean interactive whiteboard—that facilitate collaboration and idea-sharing.
Grimes hopes Hidden Figures encourages the students to foster their own creativity and offers a tangible testament that hard work pays off, whether they become mathematicians, museum curators, or any other title they aspire to hold.
“We know that the God-given talents are in each and every one of our students, and we want them to contribute to society,” she says. “This movie was proof positive and a testament to what we do here.”
In January, Hidden Figures stars Octavia Spencer and Taraji P. Henson rented out screenings of the film for low-income families.
