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Jeanne Woodard Leadership Research Paper

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Joanne Woodard Leadership Award Essay
Being nominated for the Joanne Woodard Leadership Award has been one of the highlights of my semester thus far. I am truly honored to be nominated for an award that is a demonstration of my ability to lead ethically, serve as a role model, and use my influence to advance African and African American culture on campus. Having held different positions in various campus community centers, my goal is for my leadership style to reflect the missions of the African American Cultural Center, Multicultural Student Affairs, and the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity.
In order to truly convey how important this nomination is to me, I have to acknowledge the journey I have been on since joining the Wolfpack. …show more content…

This opportunity welcomed me into a community fondly referred to as “Black NCSU.” At the African American Cultural Center, I was surrounded by love and support from both students and staff who wanted to see me succeed on campus. Having a community of intelligent and successful black staff members was an escape from the daily exhaustion of being black in a predominately white institution. Each microaggression was fuel for my intense fire to see a change on campus, which was representation. Representation is important because it gives those who come after us the motivation to strive for more: “I am because you are, you are therefore I am.” With this new motto in mind, I applied to be an Orientation Leader with New Student Programs. Fortunately, I was granted a position as one of six other African American students. Knowing how fortunate I was to have this opportunity I used my position as an Orientation Leader to welcome the class of 2020 to the university. However, I will acknowledge my own bias. I paid special attention to students and families of color as I wanted to be a familiar face to inform them of spaces for black students. I was further able to reinforce this familiarity as a Multicultural Symposium Counselor through Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA). MSA gave me a platform, a voice, to reach younger students of color and pass on the message of …show more content…

Rather than fold my arms and complain about how NC State lacks diversity in certain student positions, I applied for those positions in order to be the change I wanted to witness. It has not always been easy, neither has it always been fun, but it has definitely been memorable. Moments such as this when I am nominated for the Joanne Woodard Leadership Award, given the Linda Abravanel Scholarship through OIED, acknowledged by my peers, or even hugged by Mama Thorpe, are the moments I know my efforts are not in vain. Nonetheless, I do not believe in anything simply for validation or acknowledge as that leads to unfulfillment. I do it for the 17 year old in the middle of Talley Student Union on the verge of tears because no one in the entire lobby looked like her. I do it for the immigrant who sees “Go back to Africa” spray painted in the Free Expression Tunnel. I do it for the girl who hears “Grab her by her pussy” chanted in the parking lot after an election. I do it for the

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