This gave them a chance to broaden their horizons and expand their knowledge on a variety of fronts concerning personal struggles, overcoming adversity, dealing with highs and lows, inspirations, dedication and life lessons.
And maybe in the process, they could get a better understanding that a lot of the Female Leaders they look up to today, were at one point in their lives just ordinary kids like themselves with dreams and goals for the future.
All the girls in the team that contributed with essays did a great job of hitting home what was asked of them. Two Essay papers stood out from all.
April Matthew's paper on Marie Ferdinand-Harris took top Honors. Brianna Lane's essay on Ileana Ros-Lehtinen took runner up.
Here is some excerpts from April's essay:
I chose Marie Ferdinand-Harris as my role model because she is a humble woman who plays basketball, has a strong love for God and gives back to the community. Her life story inspired me because I love her work ethic. I love how she never gave up. I love how she is always positive. I love how she always wanted to get better. I like that she would spend hours and hours in the gym working on her weaknesses, making her weaknesses her strengths. I like how she always balanced her time between God, Family, basketball and education. The main thing I like about her other than basketball is her strong love for God. She reads her Bible and prays every day. Marie acknowledges God for everything he has done and is thankful for everything.
I am blessed and honored that I got to meet one of my role models. Meeting her made me think about life and how I should always stay positive and let God do his job to make me a better person. She taught me that not only in basketball you learn how to play and become mentally and physically tough, but that you learn how to grow, open your mind and to have self confidence. Marie Ferdinand-Harris is a true role model and leader. I'm so glad I got to know her and do my paper on her. But who knew that doing a research paper on a role model can have a life experience for the better?Following is some excerpts from Brianna's essay:
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is a role model to me because she started off her life kind of in a difficult spot. with her parents having to move because of Castro's communism and having to start their lives all over again and be taught as an American.
Another reason Ileana is a good role model is because she not only helped out where she came from but she also helped out the other parts of the United States. As her being part of Congress, she was helping out more like how the president would be helping the world. Ileana was helping solve problems that couldn't be fixed for years and now she is fixing them in less time, than it would take for them to figure out the problem.
What I have learned from this project and from Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is that, you may think you know what you want to do for the rest of your life but, one little event in your life can change your mind on everything that you thought that you wanted.
What I have learned from this project and Ileana, I am going to take the lessons that she faced and I learned about and use them to help me understand and see life in a different perspective. This makes me rethink what I had already planned for my life already. It has made me want to see the world in a way where I can make the world a better place or find a way to help a person with a problem that I can fix.
Ileana is a role model and inspiration but she has also helped me open my eyes and see the problems that were going on in this world. From this day froward Ileana is my new role model and I will live by her inspiration and use her lesson for my use. Ileana started off with nothing and started off in a bad spot as a child and worked hard to be a member of Congress. There is no better role model than the first Hispanic woman to be in the US House of Representatives, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
Following is a picture of the SA Islanders after a long hard practice. Kneeling in front, from left to right is Brianna Lane, Coach, April Matthews.
Great job ladies!