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Rwandan Students & Rebecca Walker Speak On Leadership |
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The Middle and Upper School students had the opportunity to hear the inspiring stories of three strong and courageous women this week: two survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and influential American author Rebecca Walker.
On Monday, November 7, both divisions’ assemblies featured presentations by special guest speakers from the Akilah Institute for Women, a new college located in Kigali, Rwanda. The school emphasizes leadership development, practical training and entrepreneurial skills. Student representatives, Noella Abijuru and Allen Kazarwa, stopped here on the last leg of their Metropolitan Safari that has taken them to various cities across the United States since September. Agnes Irwin was included on this national tour since Alexandra Pew ’13 and Nora Buck ’13 took a special interest in the organization and founded the AIS Akilah Club to educate members of the community on Rwanda, form relationships with Akilah pen pals and raise funds to support the school.
Abijuru told her audience of students and staff, “As girls and young women, we have great potential; and, it is up to you to stand up and speak up for yourself. Since enrolling in the Akilah program, I can now believe that I am one of the future leaders of my country.”
Rebecca Walker, author and co-founder of the Third Wave Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports young women working towards gender, racial, economic and social justice, also spoke about what it means to be a leader. In an interactive discussion at the assemblies on Tuesday, November 8, Walker posed questions to the Middle and Upper School students about her five foundational elements of leadership:
- COMPASSION – “It is hard to make a change in the world if you do not care deeply about others.”
- COURAGE – “You must be tough and use your own mind, skills, discernment and sensibility to ask the hard questions.”
- FAITH – “We must remember that people ultimately want what is best; it is in a human’s own nature to want to be good and to do the right thing.”
- PERSEVERANCE – “Don’t get distracted from your goal; stay focused, even through the hard times.”
- TRUST – “In order to be a team player, you have to trust your teammates. Know that friends are people whom you can rely on and who have your best interest at heart.”
Highlighting the Middle School’s main message of resilience, Walker closed by telling the girls, “Remember that leadership is not just something that you do out in the world, but it is something that you carry around with you. Leadership is not external, but it is who you are.”
Middle and Upper School students were also able to meet with Abijuru, Kazarwa and Walker throughout the day to continue their discussions on strength and overcoming adversity. After an African sing-along with the third graders, Abijuru and Kazarwa gave ninth grade Modern World History classes a first-hand account of what it is like to be connected to the events of Rwanda’s past. Walker discussed the struggles of being a print-author in the digital age with the twelfth grade Craft of Writing class. She even gave tips to an aspiring eighth grade writer on how to get her book published!
With these encouraging messages of female leadership in the forefront, Spirit Week at The Agnes Irwin School is off to an empowering start! Click here to view a Media Gallery of pictures from the events.
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