I wanted to take this week to talk about a certain event that I went to recently, called the Minority Scholars Intra-County Retreat.
The Minority Scholars Program is a student driven initiative, based in Montgomery County, Maryland, aimed at reducing the achievement gap by expanding the number of African American and Latino students in honors and AP courses in public high schools.
During the retreat itself, there were many adults and students that got up on the stage and shared their stories about how being a minority in this day and age sometimes has its ups in downs, but how their positive outlook on life overrules all of that negativity.
I wanted to talk about this because I feel like it is an important subject that has been very overlooked, and people don't think about too much nowadays.
Throughout my high school years, I've learned along the way that experiencing things as a minority definitely has a different type of feel to it. There are often many stereotypes that get thrown your way, but it takes extra strength in order to push past them. Sometimes, without realizing it, you put extra pressure on yourself, because you feel like you are constantly being judged for your actions.
But, after going to this event and gathering with many different minority scholars members from across the county, I felt a strong sense of empowerment and strength about being a young minority in this world. Not only can we encourage other minorities right now in our schools to work harder in order to close the achievement gap, but we can also influence the next generation.
Overall, there was a certain type of leadership that I felt at this event, and it got me thinking about how all of us can come together as a group, relate with each other, and then go out and make change in the world. Even if its something like tutoring a student who needs help, to helping the new kid at school learn English, we can do it one step at a time.
A perfect example of a strong minority leader who is pushing our country to make a difference, is our first African-American president, Barack Obama.
