Last year a group of female minority students, including myself, noticed that there were not any organizations available that were strictly for minority women. We knew that there was the Association of Multicultural Students, but it included males, and there were four different sororities available also, but they were mostly predominantly white women and some of us did not want to be apart of a sorority. Most women at Wofford are predominantly Caucasian women and sometimes it was hard for us to relate to them. We wanted our own group, our own organization that we could be apart of. Most of all we wanted to be apart of a group of women that related to one another.
At the beginning of the year during January Interim, senior Ashleigh Wilson decided to be the first to step up and form a project to try to get the club started. Everyone found out by word of mouth about her effort to finally create an organization for minority women at Wofford. She emailed every minority woman at Wofford and set a date to meet and talk about her project. The meeting turned out to be successful. Ashleigh first allowed us to address any ideas, subjects, or concerns we had about creating our organization such as the times we would meet, any rules we may have wanted, events we would hold, and awareness we may have wanted to share. We then created the purpose for our organization. Our purpose was to promote a strong sisterhood between women of color. This then lead to creating the name of our group, Wofford Women of Color.
We decided for our first event to hold a mother-daughter tea for spring weekend. One of our members invited her aunt, Zonya Brewton, to be our speaker and share some inspiring words. Mrs. Brewton spoke about her college experience and how she was the first in her family to attend college. She also spoke about some of her set backs and how she overcame them. This reminded me of the set backs we overcame in creating our organization. I also realized that we all experience set backs in our lives, but what matters is how we overcome them. Wofford Women of Color remained determined in getting our organization started and to this day it is still a success.
At the end of her speech Mrs. Brewton shared a poem that she made for us and gave us copies of it to use as a little way to keep us motivated during the hard times we may experience during our years here at Wofford.
This is but a portion of your journey
That you’ll travel in this life
There’ll be tests and there’ll be trials
And some days there’ll be strife
You’ll experience the joy of success
And suffer the pain of failure too
Women of Color stand together
That’s how you’ll make it through
This is but a portion of your journey
Do not travel this road alone
Women of Color walk together
In numbers you’ll be strong
You made it to this point
Because of what’s inside of you
You are destined to succeed
As long as you believe it’s true
When doubt comes your way
And I promise you it will
Always remember that FEAR
Is False Evidence Appearing Real
For some you’ll make family history
As you walk across that stage
The first to complete college
And enter a new phase
Your Degree will say a lot
About the person that you are
It will say that you’re determined
It will say that you’re a STAR!
It says you can achieve
Whatever you set out to do
It says you’re unstoppable
No road blocks stopping you
The trials that you have gone through
Will all have been worth it
You’ll be so happy you continued
And decided not to quit
I want to take this opportunity
To congratulate you in advance
Well Done! you Women of Color
Against you, the world doesn’t stand a chance!
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