Excerpted from a speech written by Shazzarda Davis, a senior at a NYC Outward Bound School in Bensonhurst, for our 2017 gala
My name is Shazzarda Davis and I’m a senior at Leaders High School, an NYC Outward Bound School in Brooklyn. I’m honored to be representing my school because Four years ago, I never would have thought that I would be standing here in front of you tonight. You see, my mother and I live in the Marlboro Houses in South Brooklyn, where expectations for young women and men of color are low. To be honest, four years ago, I didn’t really expect that much of myself
But, when I enrolled in Leaders High School as a freshman, everything changed and I started to understand why my school is called “Leaders.”
“Good Morning Shazz,” five teachers said to me on my third day of school. I was surprised that teachers at this new school already knew my name — somehow, I’d already become part of the community here.
Shazzarda Davis
They not only knew my name, they also saw my real potential and with time helped me to see it as well by giving me so many opportunities to challenge myself and learn to lead.
That fall, I was invited to represent Leaders at a high school recruitment fair. I didn’t yet know how to be a community leader, but at that first fair, I started to learn. A month later, my teachers encouraged me to become a Peer Mediator as part of Leaders’ restorative justice program, giving me another chance to step outside my comfort zone. Peer mediation is a student-led conflict resolution program, and I’ve actually become a student trainer. Sophomore year, I then joined Crew Council, which is our student government. It gave me a platform to speak about what I thought should be happening in the school environment.
Last year, I became a student ambassador: when we have outside visitors, I represent my school, give tours, and was even featured in The New York Times when they needed a student to talk about college-readiness.
Perhaps the most exciting opportunity happened this year, when I became a Peer Mentor. As a Peer Mentor, I have my own freshman crew, and I help them with the transition from middle school to high school, facilitate initiatives to help them bond, and instill in them our four core values: Lead, Learn, Contribute, and Explore.
Just like my teachers helped me feel welcome, supported, and encouraged those first few days of freshman year, I’m now helping my own freshman crew find and nurture their own positive and supportive community. And I’m holding them to the same high expectations that Leaders held me to.
Leaders believed in me. At Leaders, it doesn’t matter what language you speak — did you know that students at my school speak 22 different languages? And it doesn’t matter what neighborhood you live in — they believe that we all have the capacity to succeed. Leaders invested in me, and so I started to invest in myself. I said to myself, if they think I’m a good investment, maybe I am!
Well, it turns out I’m a GREAT investment: I am going to Barnard College of Columbia University in the fall! And I’ll be bringing everything I learned at Leaders with me.