I learned that leaders don’t just delegate; we get down and work with the collective to ensure the task gets done.
Mari Santillan Student
Throughout these four years, I’ve been able to trace back every involvement, friendship, challenge and success to one thing: community. During my freshman year, seniors ingrained in me the importance of community building and community healing. I always think back to the powerful seniors who helped shape my definition of leadership.
To be a leader doesn’t mean you have to be the loudest person in the room or the most popular. Being a leader is about how you make people feel. It’s about how much access you can get to spaces that sometimes feel unreachable. I learned to open up spaces so vulnerability was never invalidated. I learned that leaders don’t just delegate; we get down and work with the collective to ensure the task gets done.
Although I am eternally grateful for my nomination for this year’s Walker Cup, all the community work I’ve done came from a genuine place of care. We do work that actively challenges the institution we are a part of in order to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our brothers and sisters. It’s not something that needs a reward because the work you do for your community and the work you do for the kids following you is always worth so much more.
This is my legacy. A legacy where others feel empowered and motivated to make change. I hope to have left a legacy at DePauw of fire and devotion. A fire that burns throughout the years that future generations can feed from.
Majors: Communication and Spanish
Involvement: chapter vice president, Sigma Lambda Gamma; president, Gamma Upsilon chapter of Order of Omega; co-president, Xi Iota chapter of the Lambda Pi Eta (National Communication Studies Honor Society); secretary, Multicultural Greek Council; Connections mentor; speaking center tutor; foundations of communication peer tutor
Internships: Student-faculty research with Ariel Zach, former assistant professor, on inclusivity within the Spanish curriculum, findings presented at the seventh National Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language hosted by the University of New Mexico
Future plans: Teach For America, Dallas-Fort Worth
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