Breaking Barriers by Delena

Breaking Barriers by Delena - September 2023 Scholarship Essay

My school is very diverse when someone were to look at it from a demographic standpoint. However, I feel as though these diverse opinions aren’t being reflected. There is only one demographic that practically speaks for everyone else. If I had the authority to change my school for the better, I would do so by increasing cultural awareness. Encouraging people from different walks of life and different backgrounds to run for class officers, celebrating different cultural months, and fostering creative growth amongst the student body would be some ways that I would start.
To begin, I noticed that our school no longer had a Black Student Union (BSU). There were more things being done for Pi day and National Pop Corn Day than for the African American student on campus. I realized that this had to change. I reached out to my guidance counselor and the Student Based Team at my school in order to figure out what could be done about this.
During freshman orientation, I took the time out of my day in order to be present at the club and activities showcase. I did my best to get people to sign up for the club. Following the showcase, I have worked closely with our sponsors to find a meeting date and location. We have also created a social media account and a group chat to keep everyone informed of any events. I created a flyer so that the information was nice and compact. Our first meeting turned out to be a success and we had about 60 people show up in total. I was overwhelmed with elation and excited for any future plans that we would complete. This is just the first step in increasing cultural awareness. I would like to plan activities with the Black Student Union that get people involved and allow others to learn something new. It is the time that opinions should be heard and taken into consideration. People should feel comfortable in their own skin.
This could even foster creative growth as it would bring attention and awareness of the different cultures that are on campus. If there were activities for people to do during Hispanic Heritage Month and Black History Month, people could have the potential to acquire a multitude of knowledge. This could change their perception or the way they view life for the better.
Another change that I would make is to encourage people from all walks of life to run for class officers and join their student government association. I am in student government myself and have actually served as the Vice President. One of the reasons as to why people don’t join student government is because they don’t know how or they don’t know who the advisor and point of contact is. Making people cognizant of these activities is one way to diversify the people that have the power to make changes on campus. I believe this is important because the needs and desires of people of different backgrounds should be taken into consideration.