By Nicole Girten
May 15, 2026
In Melissa Shepard’s fifth-grade class at Jeannette Rankin Elementary School, a doll of the first female U.S. congresswoman sat on a stand at the front of the classroom as students worked on artistic interpretations of the Montana icon’s legacy recently.
Malika Wilson drew Jeannette Rankin wearing a “Vote for Women” sash, like the doll at the front of the class, with a peace sign in the corner and an American flag made of colored tissue paper.
Rankin’s trailblazing as the first woman in Congress left Malika thinking she could be the next, she said.
“I love the impact and influence that she made for people, and not just people, but like kids, like the world,” she said.
Malika’s art is being submitted alongside all her fifth-grade classmates’ to the first ever Jeannette Rankin Day contest hosted by the Jeannette Rankin Foundation to honor the icon and her work.
The top five projects win a copy of Rankin’s biography, “Winning the Earthquake,” and a gift bag, and the overall winner gets $100. The award ceremony will be held on May 29 in the school gym and Mayor Angela Davis is scheduled to attend the event, which is open to parents as well.
Students can submit one of three options for the contest:
- A 500 word essay on what Rankin means to them and her influence on their family, Montana or the U.S.
- Original artwork interpreting Rankin’s impact, along with a written explanation of how it interprets her life.
- A video of a student delivering a first-person speech in costume as if they were Rankin or someone who might have known her.
A group of three girls gave monologues as Rankin and two of her sisters Edna and Grace.
“This amazing woman never chose violence, even when she really wanted to,” said student Ellie Miller as Edna. “Jeannette Rankin made a voice for women, she gave women a step up, I saw her do that, and I’m so proud to be Jeannette Rankin’s sister.”
Hannah Mole as Rankin said she was born the oldest of seven siblings in 1880, went to the University of Montana and impacted many groups of people.
“I impacted children by letting them have better lives and healthier ones, too, with laws like child labor restrictions and social welfare protections,” she said. “Some ways I helped women are helping them secure the right to vote, getting them eight-hour workdays, and getting them into school.”
“Another way I impacted women is I gave them a chance to be what they wanted to be, instead of what they were expected to be,” Mole said.
Rosie Connors as Grace said Jeannette made a big mark on Montana. “I look up to her as a hero, a pioneer, trailblazer,” she said. “I bet in the future they’ll name a school after her.”
CEO of the Jeannette Rankin Foundation Karen Sterk said in a statement, “Jeannette believed in the power of education to transform futures and strengthen our democracy.”
“By learning her story as the first woman to serve in Congress and a champion for others, we can all be inspired to make a difference in our community and our country,” Sterk said.
Stella Sargent, a student in Katy Szalay’s fifth-grade class, made a clay sculpture of Rankin leading a protest with the words “say no to child labor” and mountains behind her.
Szalay said the project is a “good challenge” for her students on learning how to research facts and what are good sources of information.
Shepard said students every year do a project on Rankin when they learn about U.S. history in fifth grade, and because they had that background they knew a lot about her already and were “excited to take it further.”
“They’re coming up with such amazing ideas,” she said. “It’s just really cool to see them take all that information in and connect it to themselves.”
Evangeline Magnusen said she first learned about Rankin when she was in kindergarten and likes her because her work allowed the women in her family to vote. Evangeline also liked that Rankin was a peace advocate.
“When I grow up, I want to fight against war, because to me, that’s just not okay,” she said. “She just makes me really happy, because I feel like she put a mark on the map, and maybe I could too.”
Nicole Girten is the education reporter for the Ravalli Republic and the Missoulian
By Nicole Girten
Education reporter for the Ravalli Republic & Missoulian
Link to Article: https://missoulian.com/news/local/education/article_a5ce6ad5-bb52-4b48-8f14-56bdb01a6cd7.html