Legacy Grove Park recognizes women in science

By John Chaney | Freelance writer for the Winchester Sun

WINCHESTER — Legacy Grove Park’s walk­ing paths now dou­ble as an open-air trib­ute to women in sci­ence. The International Women and Girls in Science Walking Tour fea­tures 16 out­door pan­els spot­light­ing glob­al female sci­en­tists and runs through mid-March in hon­or of the United Nations’ obser­vance on February 11. 

Anna Campomanes, who coor­di­nates pro­gram­ming at the 30-acre park, cre­at­ed the exhib­it as part of the venue’s “walk­ing exhibits” series. These self-guid­ed instal­la­tions deliv­er edu­ca­tion­al con­tent to casu­al visitors—especially valu­able in win­ter when few­er peo­ple attend indoor events. 

The United Nations launched International Day of Women and Girls in Science in 2015 to encour­age equal access to STEM and address ongo­ing gen­der bar­ri­ers. Campomanes select­ed the theme to cel­e­brate women sci­en­tists and under­score science’s uni­ver­sal reach.

“Science is one of those things where it all hope­ful­ly ben­e­fits the human species, and the best way that hap­pens is cross­ing inter­na­tion­al lines,” she explained. “I want­ed to remind folks that we’re all part of this world together.” 

The 16 hon­orees come from mul­ti­ple con­ti­nents and career stages, span­ning pale­on­tol­ogy, biol­o­gy, physics, marine sci­ence, viral immunol­o­gy, and oth­er fields. Campomanes inten­tion­al­ly includ­ed ear­ly-career inno­va­tors along­side sea­soned researchers to demon­strate that pur­su­ing STEM has no expi­ra­tion date. 

“There’s no time that says you can’t be a 50-year-old woman and … study marine biol­o­gy,” she said. “Girl, you can go ahead and do that.”

A stand­out pro­file is Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett-Helaire, the viral immu­nol­o­gist whose ear­li­er work on coro­n­avirus spike pro­teins helped speed devel­op­ment of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. 

The exhib­it also high­lights pale­on­tol­o­gists study­ing ancient life, physi­cists prob­ing fun­da­men­tal laws, and researchers address­ing world­wide health issues. Campomanes empha­sized that gen­uine diver­si­ty — in geog­ra­phy, age, dis­ci­pline, and real-world impact—strengthens sci­en­tif­ic progress.

“Different peo­ple think­ing dif­fer­ent­ly … con­tribute to a gen­er­al knowl­edge of how we under­stand the world around us,” she noted. 

In a close-knit com­mu­ni­ty like Winchester, the dis­play gen­tly nudges res­i­dents to con­sid­er the wider world. Campomanes hopes it ignites curios­i­ty among girls and women eye­ing STEM paths while reas­sur­ing adults of any age that new begin­nings are always possible. 

“If it reach­es one per­son in Winchester, I think that’s pret­ty incred­i­ble,” she said. “That all that this time and effort and ener­gy … is worth it, for real.” 

Now in its sec­ond year, the exhib­it wel­comes both repeat vis­i­tors and first-timers. Panels line the park’s ADA-acces­si­ble trails, ensur­ing acces­si­bil­i­ty for walk­ers, jog­gers, and strollers alike. The dis­play fits Legacy Grove’s grow­ing focus on sci­ence and envi­ron­men­tal education. 

Upcoming events include a Star Party with the Pinnacles Astronomy Club on March 21, Rockets in Winchester Day with mod­el rock­et launch­es on April 4, and the sixth annu­al Earth Day cel­e­bra­tion on April 18, fea­tur­ing envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence activ­i­ties and a sus­tain­able fash­ion show. 

Through these glob­al sto­ries set against local trails, Legacy Grove fos­ters inspi­ra­tion, broad­ens per­spec­tives, and nur­tures life­long curiosity—one step at a time.