Micah Leonard is a senior from San Antonio, Texas. This Spanish and Psychology double major is heavily involved on campus and has accomplished a great deal in her four years at Rhodes, but her most recent accomplishment is receiving a well-deserved Rotary Global Education Grant.
HC: Describe what the grant is
ML: The rotary grant is a $30,000 grant. It’s now called the Rotary Global Education Grant for 2015-2016. Essentially what it does is allows you as a student to go to another country, and you can pick wherever you want to go. My area of focus, while I’m there, is conflict resolution and basic education. My ultimate goal is to create an education curriculum for children and preventive measures for domestic violence. I’m going to school do to a master’s program for a year and it’s on social policy and management. It’s the foundations of how you create such a policy, and then the end thesis project is to work with a state department or some sort of agency and to do some studies on policies that already exist and create a research project on that.
HC: What made you want to apply for it?
ML: I got advised by career services to apply for it. I was applying for the Watson scholarship and I knew that I wanted to study abroad but I wasn’t quite sure. I knew I really just wanted to go abroad. I wanted to have a purpose and a mission. So I applied for those classic one [scholarships]. I ended up finding the rotary scholarship, and it was a lot more in tune with what I wanted to do. I’d say that it was just fate that I found it.
HC: Where are you traveling to and why did you choose to go there?
ML: I’m going to Argentina. I did research there last summer on domestic violence law changes. They just changed the law in Argentina in 2012 on femicide, which is gender killing, so I went to go research how the effects of the law changed society and people’s outlook on the gender equality roles. It was through the modern languages department.
HC: What experiences made you a good candidate for this grant?
ML: I’ve had a lot of positive experiences in the Memphis community in terms of the legal system. I actually interned for a while with a Rhodes alumni. She has a grant specifically for Spanish immigrant clients. I would do all the translations for them. Also, I’ve always told my mom that I want to be secretary of state, and so I think pairing the legal components of my experience doing Summer Service Fellowship and then later doing the internship and then also my interest in diplomacy come together in a way. And then also there’s the component of service. The big Rotary statement is “service over self.” My mom has always taught me service over self. My whole life has been surrounded by learning to accept others. Taking people that usually wouldn’t be taken in under your own wing and feeding those who need to be fed and doing it whatever it takes to kind of give back to humanity.
HC: How do you think your experiences before Rhodes benefitted your college experience?
ML: I think it made me open. I’m always open to try new things and talk to new people and kind of get out of my comfort zone and I think that Rhodes as a whole is a great institution but you really here have to seek things out. Like it’s not just going to come to you. And I think that that prepared me to come to Rhodes and really flourish here. I’ve always been open to try new things and talk to whoever. I’m a go getter I guess you could say. And I think that having the previous building blocks prior to coming to Rhodes really helped me, give me the extra push. The support is here at Rhodes, but you have to take the little step to find it. Which is hard, not everyone can do that. But I think once you can do that and like try to push yourself past that comfortable threshold, you can do really good things and meet incredible people
HC: Can you describe a time when you had to get out of your comfort zone at Rhodes and push yourself in the way that you’re talking about?
ML: With a lot of the things I’ve done here, similar to high school, I’ve always been in leadership positions, but I was never really challenged about what I believed, in religion maybe, but in other things I was so strong. I’m such a strong speaker. I say what I want to say, but I was never really challenged. I think that when you come to Rhodes you have to accept that you’re going to be challenged on some of those thoughts.
HC: What do you want to accomplish while studying Argentina?
ML: I really want to immerse myself and not speak English.. I know that sounds easy and simple, but I don’t want to fall back on my crutches. And another big goal is to just do it and not to question myself. I mean, I’m allowed to question myself, but I need to just live in the moment while I’m there and not think about when I get back or question if I’m doing the right thing. Another big goal for me is to become involved sincerely. I think at Rhodes I think we spread ourselves so thin that we don’t sincerely get involved with things. I love Interfaith and I am invested in it, but I’ll also have to think about RSG or I’ll have to think about Res Life and I’ll also have to think about school. And luckily, I’ll be doing a program that will hopefully lend itself for me to be really immersed in all the stuff I think I’m interested in.
HC: Clearly you’re used to accomplishing a lot at Rhodes and I hear that you’re still helping develop new projects even though this is your final semester at Rhodes. What motivates you to stay so involved?
ML: I would like to be able to come back and see a change that I made: a positive change that was still here. I guess everything that motivates me here is that I’ll make some sort of impact, even if it’s just for a couple people’s lives. Every day I just want to make some kind of an impact, a little splash to make things a little bit better.
HC: Looking back on your time at Rhodes, what is it that you are most thankful for?
ML: I was thinking about it the other day. Why did I come to Rhodes? Students always ask me that when I give tours. I always say that it’s the people. There are people who will go the extra mile to make sure that you are ok. You just have to meet those people because the first year even here, you may not meet those people. But by the third and fourth year, you will meet people that will change your life. That is what makes Rhodes special is that there are people on this campus who will make your life different for the rest of your life. People really do care. They’re looking, they’re listening. It’s just that sometimes it may not feel like that because it’s a growing time. You’re becoming an adult. People are trying to be a little bit more hands off. I’ve also met people in my grade that have made a huge impact in Memphis, at Rhodes, and in my life. They’ve changed perspectives in my life. You look up to those people, so I guess that’s what Rhodes has. It has incredible people and that’s what I’m thankful for.