As this institution’s core purpose is to change lives for the benefit of society, I feel that the University of Texas would benefit from an organization on campus that worked to close the achievement gap in the education of minority girls through mentorship. We as students of this university are readymade leaders in our own right and I feel that certain students on this campus would serve as ideal role models to youth in underprivileged areas of Austin. Students, ascended from similar backgrounds can be beacons of hope and testaments to the fact that no goal is out of reach.
Adolescence is a uniquely difficult time and being a young minority female is an experience unlike any other. Austin hosts a population of young minority girls that aren’t reaching their full potential academically in comparison to their male and non-minority counterparts, simply because they haven’t been told that they could. A lack of resources, support systems and role models could all be contributing factors to this discrepancy. These girls are in danger of accepting society’s perpetuated and inaccurate stereotypes as their reality. Pictured above is the poster from the film “Precious.” The film follows the story of an illiterate, 16-year old African American girl who is emotionally and physically abused by her mother. As a result of her dejection, Precious has broken ambitions and is pregnant for the second time. An integral part of the story is Precious’ teacher and friend Ms. Rain. Ms. Rain helps Precious push herself and together they find the courage Precious needs to foster her newly found literacy. It is in this uniquely different time of female adolescence, that I, much like Ms. Rain, would like to provide an ally.
I drew further inspiration from Bonnie J. Ross Leadbeater’s Urban Girls Revisited in which she highlights the psychological plight that plagues young girls in these settings:
Urban girls are frequently marginalized by ethnic and racial discrimination, political neglect, poor education, poverty, parenting as adolescent, dating violence and high-risk behaviors. However, despite their higher risks for maladaptive outcomes, the majority of girls who are “marked” by such stereotypes show remarkable strengths in the face of these adversities. [1]
I want to show these girls with “target-bearing” young women that their strength is not in vain.
My vision will manifest itself in the form of a campus organization named S.H.E., an acronym for Sustaining Her Education. That acronym is representative of my aspirations: to support and enrich the education of young underrepresented girls. S.H.E. mentors won’t serve in the capacity of teachers or counselors; we will provide an audience, solicit advice, tutor them in subjects we feel most comfortable, and facilitate several activities that will boost their self-esteem and self-confidence. Hopefully this investment will positively affect their academic performance.
We will also strive to promote the formation of identity and goals through group discussions and activities. A potential activity would involve a 4 ft sized photograph of a young female. The facilitator would read a scenario and every time something negative is mentioned, a piece of the girl’s photograph will be ripped down. The participants are then asked to evaluate what’s left of the young girl’s self esteem. This exercise would encourage young women to explore the things that impact self- esteem as well as its byproducts.
The full realization of this vision will require a great deal of enterprise on my part including the development of a concrete plan to execute. First I would like to establish a partnership with a local philanthropy to make our impact more concentrated and measureable and to also help with a structure for volunteering and logistics. The success of S.H.E. depends heavily on the aid and involvement of the several service driven individuals our campus has to offer. Groups that are already culturally centered such as Bilingual Education Students Organization (BESO), Minorities in Education (MIE) and students with aspirations of being an educator or social worker will serve as an excellent recruitment pool.
Next I will seek to establish a campus identity. Because being a registered student organization affords that body certain privileges and opportunities, I will go through a registration process, in hopes of becoming more formally recognized. Through achieving this formal recognition, we increase the likelihood of receiving faculty and departmental support. I also find it important to establish community ties and invaluable relationships with deserving girls in the area. While the focus is frequently on changes that can be made on a global scale, there is so much that can be done locally. Further, an initiative such as this will shine a positive light on the University as it’s name will be associated with a community edifying project.
The University already boasts various mentorship programs as well as outreach programs, but I feel that these groups deal little with how emotional struggles and self-esteem affect academics and more specifically in young minority girls. S.H.E. will cater to an otherwise overlooked population.
Tangible goals include regular meetings to get the group set up for mentoring, various fundraisers, bake sales, carnivals, and car washes. All of these activities will last throughout the year to subsidize the larger goal of awarding a scholarship to one girl that made the biggest impression on the group ad whom we found most deserving. Our culminating large-scale event will be our “Girls Night Out.” This event would take the form of bowling at the Union Underground, and be a very informal chance for the girls to get out and have the fun which they may not be able to have regularly for whatever reason, financial or otherwise. Much like the girls pictured left, I want to provide a safe haven for camaraderie and positivity, if only for an evening.
As with every potential project, there are goals, which will most likely exceed our means. We will not be able to reach every girl in need, change all of the lives of the girls we do reach and we won’t be able to close the achievement gap all on our own. It is my hope, however, that this organization will inspire young minority girls to reach for higher ground and for UT students that have become complacent to do the same. It is also my hope that this organization will not lose momentum once I’ve graduated. I wish it to even go as far as other chapters sprouting up in university campuses across the nation and that more students become inspired to participate in something “greater than themselves.”
Looking beyond the credentials these “seemingly meaningless courses” throughout my college career have provided me with to earn a degree, they have also harvested seeds if service and responsibility: responsibility to myself and to the society in which I live. This class in particular has emphasized that point as well as the notion that my successful manipulation of the English language in reading and writing is crucial if I am to be considered for any leadership role. If I am able to communicate effectively and profoundly there is conceivably no limit to what I can achieve in the future.
Word Count with quotes: 1181
Word Count without quotes:1131
Images:
http://happysamsoon.blogspot.com/2010/06/precious-movie-vs-reality.html
http://girlstartblog.wordpress.com/2008/10/
http://www.harrycutting.com/photos_people/minority-children-picture-66-FC5058.htm
[1] Ross Leadbeater, Bonnie J. and Way, Niobe. Urban Girls Revisited: Building Strengths. New York and London: New York University Press, 2007.
