I want to share with you the very powerful Tuesday I had. Firstly, I was honored to have been invited to a milestone event marking ten years of a meaningful and forever growing partnership maintained between Posse and Bryn Mawr College. My mentor, First Lady Diane Patrick of Massachusetts had extended the invitation to me while I was attending a Bryn Mawr Volleyball match. After stepping outside to receive a call I found myself bouncing back into the gym happy as could be and yesterday, I finally had the great honor of attending the ceremony with her.

Later we joined Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Bryn Mawr President Jane McAuliffe, one of the first woman trustees of Princeton University and Emeritus Trustee of Bryn Mawr College Sue Speers, and Bryn Mawr’s Executive Director of the Alumnae Association, Wendy Greenfield. I was very nervous, but Diane assured me that I would be fine and that the people that we would be dining with were very nice. Through their challenges, achievements, discussions on current day happenings and change left to be made they continually inspired me throughout the evening. To my upcoming thesis work and French Oral presentation, I am ready to look it all in the eye and know that I will succeed. The ceremony was a delight and I had the pleasure of reuniting with many Bryn Mawr alumnae, parents, administration of both Bryn Mawr and local Boston high schools. Ayanna Presley, incumbent Boston City Council Representative also shared a few inspirational words. She wants the message to be passed along to us women that our crowns have been paid in full and that all we have left to do is pick them up and put them on. Jackney Prioly, a Posse trailblazer also shared what Posse meant to her. I had the pleasure of previously meeting her at a Bryn Mawr alumnae event and the integral roles she has taken on for Posse and Bryn Mawr are limitless. Inspirational faces like these make the mornings when I wake up questioning how on earth I am going to make it through today transform into how on earth I am going to improve my life and make a change in the world.

My dreams and your dreams are not a long shot and I encourage you to not allow anyone to tell you differently. Granted, I am blessed to have such powerful resources at my fingertips, but do not under estimate your local library, your local schools, and local educative aid programs. They exist and all it takes is for you to walk out of your door and into theirs.

I am currently on the train from the Philadelphia airport coming from Boston. To veer off track from what has been said so far, I would like to mention something that bothers me. After having descended from the air and landing on the ground, I remembered that Down South (my family on my mom’s side is from Arkansas) people used to applaud when the pilot landed the plane successfully. I also know that in class when people encourage me by cheering or with kind words I tend to perform better. All I want is that people realize that someone’s skill just transported their life from one location to another. And by air. I know no pilots personally; however, I do wish that they were shown more appreciation. I only recently just stopped carrying my Bible and going through extensive sessions of repenting in order to get on a plane. The bottom line is to appreciate your pilot. However to get back on track, I wanted to say how special my Tuesday was and that I am grateful to the people who made it possible for me. That means my mommy, Diane, Posse, Bryn Mawr and of course my teacherProfessor McGovern (at Haverford College) who excused my absence. Last but not least, I have a set of wonderful friends who are very proud of me, and they encourage me in all that I do. Thank you! Not to mention the people in Communications who made that beautiful poster with my face on it- that was waaaay awesome! Thank you

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