#9

I make sure to own up to any mistakes I've made and rise above excuse making. If I were to always make excuses I wouldn't be able to get ahead in life, I'd be stuck in the past. I think owning up to your mistakes when you can makes you a better leader who wants to grow as a person. I think we can encourage others to rise above blaming and excuse making by reminding them that mistakes don't mean failure. If you blame others and make excuses, you'll never reach any solutions and work as a team.

I liked that there was an emphasis on listening to others in order to be an ally to them. This article points out that it is very important to keep quiet and listen carefully to the issues of other groups even if you are not a part of that particular group. This can be applied to STARS lead because we are learning how to be leaders for underrepresented students and although we may not share the exact same experiences as them, it's important to be allies with them and listen to what they have to say. I'd say this is a strength of mine because I love listening to other people's stories and figuring out what I can do to help. A weakness would probably be to keep goals realistic. Oftentimes, I want to solve the problems of every oppressed group out there. However, this is not very realistic and it's better to take baby steps to achieve that in the long run.

Students should incorporate some personal experiences into their scholarship applications and talk about what they've learned about themselves and the world around them. Also, it's important to have activities and volunteer work to add to the student's repertoire of involvement. This can benefit the students who are part of the Empowerment Pipeline because they may not consider their personal experiences to be that unique. When in fact, they are! Additionally, scholarships contribute to my vision of social justice because they give an underrespresented group of students a better chance of attending college- whether they be students of color, low-income students, and more. I think it's very important to reach out to those students and give them the oppotunity of "free money" BECAUSE of their unique upbringings, not in spite of them.