- Posts: 13
- Joined: Sep 27, 2015
- Sat Jan 16, 2016 11:20 pm
#21852
Hello! I'm posting this for a friend who would like feedback on their statement! Thanks a bunch! 
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Prove it. For many years of my life, I allowed these two words to dictate my every action. My life was binary, stuck in a polarizing color spectrum of black and white. As a biracial woman, I often felt forced to identify with one race or the other, requiring proof to support my claim to whomever I chose to be. Asian organizations on campus seemed to promote an acceptance based on full race homogeneity, and I felt that my almond-shaped eyes automatically disqualified acceptance from the black community. My desire for my own identity felt unsupported and void. Despite feeling destined to conform to any shape or form that my peers and society found convenient, I searched for a means to overcome this predetermined truth by reclaiming those words – prove it.
High school speech and debate offered an outlet of temporary relief from a school, a community, and a society where I found difficulty understanding my place. I discovered solace in the challenging and empowering nature of debate. The only proof that mattered in a round was that of a more compelling, logical, and well-researched argument. These tools of rhetoric and argumentation emboldened me; I felt a new sense of empowerment where it didn’t matter that I was biracial unless I wanted it to matter. Ultimately, the impact that speech and debate had on my experience in high school encouraged me to become a founder, and eventual treasurer, of the (school) Association of Parliamentary Debate at (school). The lack of on-campus resources focused on topics related to my personal experience inspired me to help create an organization that wasn’t solely dependent on a person’s sociodemographic status, but rather, his or her intellect and passion for learning. It was an experience that required maintaining a delicate balance between an acceptance that did not consider a person’s background, but that allowed people to feel empowered to foster their own identity.
Building an organization from the ground up was one of the most demanding, yet rewarding challenges I have endured. Although I retained my internal struggle with identity, these internal battles I faced quickly dispelled, as I sought to embrace my newfound leadership skills and organizational abilities for an ambition larger than myself. Throughout this journey, I gained invaluable experience with chartering a new organization, which required submitting applications, creating budget proposals, contacting faculty advisors, and coordinating recruitment events. More importantly, I defied the parameters that society created for me and discovered a sum of confidence in determining who I really wanted to be – I was a leader, a team member, and a representative. I was a biracial woman who would not let others arbitrate my identity but would overcome the odds so that I could establish it myself. Within two years of our existence, the organization managed to recruit twenty new members, facilitate its own collegiate-level tournament, and qualify a student for a national tournament. Parliamentary debate became my haven, and the ultimate catalyst for my decision to apply for law school.
Prove it. These words have assumed a new meaning. A meaning that challenges me to reconcile acceptance with a passion to learn. Law school offers a platform to further my empowerment and self-discovery, but it also supports a space in which I can afford the same opportunity to others who may feel the same way that I have growing up. Although my journey to mold an identity that I feel confident in continues, it has been aided enormously by the powerful and transformative experience that creating and leading an organization provided. It is a journey I hope to continue and believe that the realm of law represents the very foundation of infinite possibilities to dismantle barriers between identity and knowledge that were thought to be impenetrable.
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Prove it. For many years of my life, I allowed these two words to dictate my every action. My life was binary, stuck in a polarizing color spectrum of black and white. As a biracial woman, I often felt forced to identify with one race or the other, requiring proof to support my claim to whomever I chose to be. Asian organizations on campus seemed to promote an acceptance based on full race homogeneity, and I felt that my almond-shaped eyes automatically disqualified acceptance from the black community. My desire for my own identity felt unsupported and void. Despite feeling destined to conform to any shape or form that my peers and society found convenient, I searched for a means to overcome this predetermined truth by reclaiming those words – prove it.
High school speech and debate offered an outlet of temporary relief from a school, a community, and a society where I found difficulty understanding my place. I discovered solace in the challenging and empowering nature of debate. The only proof that mattered in a round was that of a more compelling, logical, and well-researched argument. These tools of rhetoric and argumentation emboldened me; I felt a new sense of empowerment where it didn’t matter that I was biracial unless I wanted it to matter. Ultimately, the impact that speech and debate had on my experience in high school encouraged me to become a founder, and eventual treasurer, of the (school) Association of Parliamentary Debate at (school). The lack of on-campus resources focused on topics related to my personal experience inspired me to help create an organization that wasn’t solely dependent on a person’s sociodemographic status, but rather, his or her intellect and passion for learning. It was an experience that required maintaining a delicate balance between an acceptance that did not consider a person’s background, but that allowed people to feel empowered to foster their own identity.
Building an organization from the ground up was one of the most demanding, yet rewarding challenges I have endured. Although I retained my internal struggle with identity, these internal battles I faced quickly dispelled, as I sought to embrace my newfound leadership skills and organizational abilities for an ambition larger than myself. Throughout this journey, I gained invaluable experience with chartering a new organization, which required submitting applications, creating budget proposals, contacting faculty advisors, and coordinating recruitment events. More importantly, I defied the parameters that society created for me and discovered a sum of confidence in determining who I really wanted to be – I was a leader, a team member, and a representative. I was a biracial woman who would not let others arbitrate my identity but would overcome the odds so that I could establish it myself. Within two years of our existence, the organization managed to recruit twenty new members, facilitate its own collegiate-level tournament, and qualify a student for a national tournament. Parliamentary debate became my haven, and the ultimate catalyst for my decision to apply for law school.
Prove it. These words have assumed a new meaning. A meaning that challenges me to reconcile acceptance with a passion to learn. Law school offers a platform to further my empowerment and self-discovery, but it also supports a space in which I can afford the same opportunity to others who may feel the same way that I have growing up. Although my journey to mold an identity that I feel confident in continues, it has been aided enormously by the powerful and transformative experience that creating and leading an organization provided. It is a journey I hope to continue and believe that the realm of law represents the very foundation of infinite possibilities to dismantle barriers between identity and knowledge that were thought to be impenetrable.
