On this past Monday, March 23rd, Saint Mary’s students participated in the tenth annual Diverse Students’ Leadership Conference. This beloved event has been a great way for students to celebrate diversity and learn more about issues surrounding this broad topic. This year, the conference was filled with sessions that focused on diversity at Saint Mary’s, how to get hired in a global market, inspiring messages from keynote speakers, sessions on different aspects of diversity, and more. The conference facilitated increased dialog about diversity and gave students the opportunity to hear from some incredible world leaders.
With this being Saint Mary’s, the big guests of honor were, of course, fellow women. The opening keynote speaker was Yvette Nyombayire Rugasaguhunga. This ambitious, well-spoken and motivating woman is currently the Second Counselor to the Embassy of the Republic of Rwanda. Yvette made the trip from Washington D.C. to share her own experiences as an investment banker, Second Counselor, genocide survivor, and civil rights and social activist. The focus of her work has been to advocate for Genocide survivors in Rwanda and the United States. Yvette’s talk was the perfect way to start out the day by allowing students to both hear from a catalyst for change and open our minds to different aspects of diversity.
The closing keynote speaker was the Co-Founder and CEO of the Malala Fund, Shiza Shahid. Shiza is not only an entrepreneur and social activist, but has also been named as one of TIME magazine’s “30 Under 30 World Changers” and Forbes “30 Under 30” list of social entrepreneurs. While Shiza’s accomplishments speak from themselves, she is most well-known for her connection with Malala Yousafzai. In October of 2012, this incredible young Pakistani girl was shot by the Taliban for advocating for girls’ education. Malala not only survived the attack, but went on to become the youngest-ever Nobel Prize winner. Shiza initially met Malala when she created a summer camp for girls in Pakistan a couple of summers back; and their relationship has grown ever since. Shiza was at Malala’s bedside after the famous attack and the two continue to work together towards advocating for girls’ education. Shiza shared with us her experiences creating the Malala Fund and the work she plans to continue in the future.
I was incredibly inspired by the words Shiza shared and knew that I needed to formally reflect on them. She impressed us all with her accomplishments, class, ambition, and wisdom. Her four main pieces of advice for us all as future leaders were: To focus on our journey of growth and discovery, that everyone has the power to create change, to live a life of passion, and to constantly be creating and innovating. She also urged us all to be curious, expand our horizons, and make decisions with our hearts. Shiza’s experiences as a social activist around the world gave her a firm background on which to develop these pieces of advice. She inspired us all by saying that if we have something to give, we should make it happen. Shiza said, “There are no superheroes, we are the ones we have been waiting for”. Even though her entire talk was quote-worthy, this particular piece of advice really stuck out to me. It was refreshing for her to persuade us to not assume that other people are fixing the seemingly-endless major problems in the world. If we find something that we are truly passionate about, she inspired us all to dive in.
According to Shiza, effective change can only happen when you collaborate with others and find partnerships with those with similar passions and values. When she said this, it made me realize that Saint Mary’s is the perfect place to implement these words of wisdom. Discovery, empowerment, and inspiration are things that make this conference, and Saint Mary’s in general, so special. This place provides us with opportunities to expand our minds and step out of comfort zones in order to become future leaders. We all must take advantage of how lucky we are to go to such a wonderful school that provides us with amazing opportunities. Like the opening and closing keynote speakers both pointed out, we are all so lucky to have the opportunity to even discuss diversity and the issues that it presents. In the worlds of the young women that both Yvette and Shiza work to protect and serve, girls are not able to so openly discuss these topics or present their own ideas on possible solutions. I was reminded of how blessed we are to have such open dialog and be able to cultivate our minds in these unique ways.
As I looked around the room after Shiza’s closing speech, I felt incredibly connected to all of the women in the room. The majority of them were Saint Mary’s students and I realized that many of them were my fellow seniors. Even though I do not know them all personally, I began to feel quite nostalgic about our time together here at Saint Mary’s. From our education in the classroom, to different inspiring presentations, similar to those at DSLC, we have learned and grown so much together. In these experiences, we have discovered more about the world around us and our place in it. “Our place” is one that holds great responsibility for us to utilize how blessed we have been in order to help others and be catalysts of change. Both Shiza and Yvette shared that they firmly believe that girls hold the power to change some of the world’s biggest issues and work to empower these future leaders. Who remembers that shirt that we all got during our freshmen orientation? On the back it says, “We promise you discovery, the discovery of the world and your place in it”. Well SMC, as a second semester senior, I would like to congratulate you on accomplishing this goal.
I left Shiza’s talk feeling the same way I always leave these incredible keynote speakers, ridiculously inspired and grateful. Shiza jokingly told us that she has a new girl crush on our opening speaker, Yvette, after meeting her that morning. We all could not have agreed more and instantly looked up to both of these amazing women as role models. After the session, my friend and I could not stop gushing over all that they both have done and kept joking that we were in the mood to go out and change the world. But we’re Belles, so this is not an uncommon thought right? We then headed over to the after party, which was planned in order to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Diverse Students’ Leadership Conference. It was filled with wonderful food, music, and girls dancing together like happy little Smicks at the Backer. As we entered the room, we were greeted by Beyoncé singing “Who run the world? Girls!”. How fitting. Go belles.