Empower Her Scholarship

In my opinion, empowerment is one of the most important things when it comes to leadership. I am a senior high school athlete, who has dealt with a bunch of stressful situations. Whether it be convincing other girls to stay on the team or cheering them on even when we are not playing to our best ability. Empowerment is what keeps a team going. Since I am a senior, a lot of girls look up to me. I try my hardest to be a positive light in a world of yelling and crying. In my world, empowerment is being a source of optimism and hopefulness for the future of my team and my friends. First and foremost, no one lives life mistake free, and everyone is bound to mess up. I show empowerment by meeting with teammates after practice or games to tell them that they are enough no matter their performance. A simple conversation can go a long way, when it comes to other's decisions. It takes one person caring about you to change the trajectory of your life. Being a source of light in a dark world is not always easy, but it is always necessary. Second, self-empowerment is important. Self-empowerment is self-love. If I tell myself I am not good enough every day, eventually I will believe this to be true. In order to help others, it is important to make sure you are on the right track first. Every day I try to remind myself my potential, so I can help others reach theirs. Love yourself and shine through the ones around you. Last, but certainly not least, empowerment is growth. Think about someone who has told you one thing that will stick with you forever. For me, it was my coach pulling me aside and telling me the assets that I bring to the team, athletic wise and personality wise. I remind myself of that conversation every time I am thinking poorly of myself. While yes, constructive criticism is good, positivity and empowerment go a long way as well. A life without empowerment is a poor life. If I had to challenge everyone to do something, I would tell them to make a change in someone's life every day. This could be helping a classmate with a problem or giving a random person a compliment. I hope that I have changed another's life for the better at least once today.

The dictionary definition of empowerment is recognizing ourselves and walking in the power and autonomy we have to achieve our goals. However, I believe that empowerment is best experienced by having a community and leadership examples around us. I am a first-born daughter in an immigrant family who has been blessed enough to have multiple examples of strong female leadership before me. They have inspired me, as I step into an age where I am now the inspiration for those younger than me. My grandmother lived in Nigeria and she raised five successful children who from one generation to the next have all immigrated to America. My mother is one of those children and she has sacrificed everything for me. I’ve had a female manager at work who constantly checks in on me, female small group leaders and countless others who have poured into me. They are all educated leaders who have empowered me to boldly follow in their footsteps. Despite multiple of my own personal challenges, I have never felt that there is anything I cannot achieve because of the confidence that they have instilled in me. And after all, if God is for me, who can be against me? This has had an immeasurable impact on my life. Empowerment involves the passing down of wisdom and knowledge. Stories and proverbs passed down to me have taught me which way to go, along with God’s guiding hand in my life. Growing up constantly moving in order to improve my family’s life, gave me a birds eye view of the power of hard work, causing me to have a lot of intrinsic motivation. My family, friends, teachers, managers and more have all shown me loving kindness throughout my life and empowered me to become who I am today. Their examples, consistent words of encouragement and helping hands have allowed me to achieve academic and extracurricular success. In addition, my relationship with God is my greatest source of empowerment. Through reading the Bible for myself, I’ve discovered my value as someone Jesus loved enough to die for. He is always with me and I can do all things through His strength. I am eternally grateful. Finally, I’ve been fortunate enough to be a leader at school, at home for my siblings and cousins and in any arena I step into. The same way I’ve been nurtured is how I hope to positively impact all the younger women placed into my life. In a world that tears down the looks and abilities of women, I hope to pass on the confidence and wisdom I have gained while being an embodiment of the love of God to everyone. Thank you.