6-WU Personal Statement

This semester, we learned specific ways to build our leadership capabilities by reading “How Remarkable Women Lead” by Joanna Barsh and Susie Cranston, researching Boston women leaders, interviewing a present day woman leader, and reading a group book. Throughout all of these resources and research, common themes of how to be a successful leader emerged. Not only did I learn more about leadership in general, but I also found ways to improve my own leadership without going too much out of my comfort zone. The important lessons of leading with perseverance, framing, and an activist's mindset thoroughly influenced my identity as a leader and gave me new tactics to grow as a person.

The focal point of current educational trend in the United States is on preparing the leaders of tomorrow (National Task Force, 2012). Student success has been expanded to include civic responsibility which is a dimension of the college experience largely ignored until recently (Upcraft, Gardner, & Barefoot, 2005). The Department of Education has taken this charge and developed the National Task Force for Democratic and Civic Engagement. This initiative places developing civic responsibility as a national priority based on the tendency of young people who are often too caught up in ‘narrow collegiate worlds’ of their own existence to understand the larger role of being a contributing member of society (Upcraft, Barefoot & Gardner, 2005). Thus, engagement as a participating citizen living in community is frequently beyond the scope of young student leaders in college. Due to this, the government has renewed its interest in creating civic-minded young people prepared to advocate for change. This has led the charge for a civic engagement initiative nationwide.

‘Why we have too few women leaders’ was an address given by Sheryl Sandberg in the year 2010, presenting messages to women if they want to stay in the work force. This topic is a concern to Sandberg because there are small numbers of women who hold prominent leader positions in the world. In her presentation, she states “…, How are we going to fix this? How do we change these numbers at the top? How do we make this different?”

One identified contributor to women's slower than expected assent into leadership is the persistence of assumptions and stereotypes that women are intrinsically "communal" or "dependent" and "passive", and therefore, lack the capacity to succeed as leaders. (National Academy of Sciences National Academy of Engineering Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, 2006 as cited by Isaac, Kaatz & Carnes, 2012).

Civic Engagement is a necessary focus that many young adults overlook. It is about learning and knowing how to fight for one’s belief or a noble cause, and trying to bring about change to a social or political condition (Parisella, 2013). The Washington Center’s Civic Engagement Framework required some components such as attending two modules that addressed issues of public concern and strategies for citizen participation, a public policy dialogue, and direct service. The first two served as an educational purpose to teach students how to get involved and finally the direct service allowed the opportunity for students to take action and volunteer. Therefore, I wanted my civic engagement to relate to the hazardous things that humans are exposed

Held each fall, Leadership Academy is an intergenerational, life-changing retreat that impacts more than 250 women each year. The program is designed to help members recognize their leadership potential and encourage them to serve in leadership roles in their

​A community that I am actively involved in is the J.Kyle Braid Leadership Foundation also known as ELITE at my high school. The J.Kyle Braid foundation is a club that I take part in through my school, but is a nationwide foundation. In my second year of high school, I was chosen to take part in a leadership training at the J.Kyle Braid ranch in Colorado, where I met 19 other girls from different schools. I learned from working with peers who are leaders at their schools. Being surrounded with other teens who share my desire to make a difference, was a life-changing experience. I came back from the Ranch as a stronger, more effective leader to my peers and a more confident individual. With the connections to other schools, I was able to meet up with the other J.Kyle Braid leaders to talk about issues and events at school and share ideas for

“It is incredible to be here, as a young Latina woman, sitting next to the Secretary of Education.” This sentiment was expressed during the Student Voice Session where students can discuss their educational experiences with Secretary Duncan. The youth engagement team for the U.S. Department of Education (ED) organized the event. The team aims to provide students with opportunities, such as the Student Voice Session, to inform educational policy. My experience as an intern on this youth engagement team of ED encouraged me to look closer at civic engagement practices for youth.

Coming together to prepare women for leadership opportunities is a page right out of the broader history of the Victorian period, and something we hold especially dear as members of a women’s fraternity.

When I first heard about The American Legion Auxiliary Missouri Girls State program, I was instantly elated. Though a cliche, working within the government, whether at a nation or local level, has always been an aspiration of mine. While politics are fascinating, I am more interested in the actual processes of government: they way differing levels are run, the specific jobs open in local government, and the relationships between separate sectors. The true system of government is extremely complicated, and through this program, I would be able to experience every aspect first hand. Set up so beautifully, our government responds to everyone. Yes, passing legislature, changing the world, and even getting elected become long drawn out tasks, but

As a first generation Mexican-American from a low-income community in West Phoenix, my circle of opportunity has minimized, in relation to higher education and civic participation. Dealing with higher education in Arizona, for every 100 high school freshmen, only 19 will enroll in a four-year university, and only 9 will become university graduates. As for civic participation, Arizona ranks at the bottom of nearly every measurement. Arizona is 47th in the nation when it comes to voting in local elections, and ranked 41st in volunteering. When considering the facts of Arizona’s higher education and civic participation, these topics really hit home and ignited my ambitions within the public service field. One of the ways I am currently improving

Student Government has taught me the importance of planning and cooperation. As I attended my first meetings Mr. Mohan made it clear that the best events are birthed from a student government that is involved with the students. Taking that spirit of involvement, I made a goal to be involved within student government and I have been actively attended meetings and stugo events to my fullest capability.

When I was at Brigham Young University as a student, I was heavily involved in different student activities as well as leadership programs in order to leave my comfort zone and learn how to work with variety of different people as a team. Especially, I co-founded a new student council for students from Asia at Brigham Young University, serving as a vice-president and a head of event marketing. I tried to unite students from Asia through social, educational, cultural events and to provide opportunities to serve others so that there are no intellectually, spiritually, or emotionally poor students from Asia. As a vice-president, I presided weekly performance meeting to assess progress of upcoming events and keep track of teamwork in order not to burden council members. And I also explored the funding opportunities that are offered by Brigham Young University Student Association and raised $5,000 by sharing our cultural experience to the local high school students during the fall semester of 2013.

One of the activities i participated in was the emerging leadership conference. This conference was a var of workshops that helped me see more aspects of leadership then just being dominant. I attended two workshops that helped me learn what characteristic are needed to become an effective leader. One workshop

I am so happy that I had the opportunity to attend an event like this. It makes me happy and proud to be a woman when I am involved in this type of environment. Seeing these powerful women from around the country invoke hope and pride in so many others like me is a wonderful thing. I left the IWLC with a new sense of self-confidence and self-motivation. I am willing to do what it takes to see myself succeed. I hope to get a lot of chances in my life to attend and support events like the IWLC Women’s Leadership