Articles and Scholarship Junkies

I found the Finding your Power article to be very accurate in what it was trying to convey. I think that it is very necessary for us to embrace our power, like it said with the swimming example. However, we need to be sure we are using it to benefit others and to make sure we value them. It is not right to just blame others for problems. We should take responsibility when it is due. We can help others do this as well by consulting them and making them feel less alone. 

I also agreed with a lot of points from the article, “The Do’s and Don’ts of Being a Good Ally.” I think that a good way that we can become better allies to other communities is by becoming better educated on them. We can do things such as engage in discussion, read books, and actually listening to people. Being a good ally is not about status but about doing what’s right in the right way. This can be very applicable to the STARS LEAD Program. We always engage in discussion on sensitive topics and it is important that we are allies to each other and try not to derail the discussion. We might not agree all the time but we try to stay as respectful as we can and try to learn from one another and I think we can always improve ourselves in that way. I think that my biggest strength as an ally is being able to listen and not derailing a discussion. I am very good at staying on track and making sure we are using our time efficiently. An area that I can maybe improve in is becoming more educated on the subject we are talking about by reading books and links. I usually don’t do that and I think it can really help me become a better ally. 

I found the Scholarship Junkies workshop to be very helpful. Obviously it was geared towards the inner-city high school kids, but I think us leaders got a lot out of it as well. It can really help the kids in the Empowerment Pipeline to potentially get scholarships and be able to afford college. It helps to give them hope that they in fact, CAN succeed. It is a step towards more social justice. That’s because scholarships give them a chance that they otherwise, could not ever have. It puts them on, if not an equal plane, a better plane than before, as other kids in terms of chances of success, which is a step closer to social justice.