Akua Roxie Doreen Wilson
My name is Akua Wilson and I am a fourth-year student at the University of Cincinnati. I am majoring in both Criminal Justice and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, with minors in Africana Studies, Legal Studies, and Social Justice. I am on the Pre-Law track and plan to enter law school directly after receiving my undergraduate degrees. In the future, I aim to practice civil rights law.
My largest passion in life is equity. I am from a small section in the Northwest region of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania named Germantown. I grew up with two loving parents, my four brothers, and a huge support system that I considered my family. I was fortunate enough to attend a private school at the age of nine, entering the fourth grade. Being from Germantown, and attending the schools I did previously make my switch to SCH Academy all the more challenging. I had never seen so many people that were different from me, let alone interacted with them. It was a hard adjustment. I was judged for the way I dressed, the way I talked, and even the way I acted. I was always incredibly smart, yet I was made to feel as if I was less than. For many, this might have sparked a change, or an urge to switch schools again, but for me, it ignited a fire inside me.
In my fourth grade class of 50 people, there were precisely eight people who looked like me, but of those eight, none of them accepted me. This was due to the lack of diversity and shared experiences in my school. I was forced to assimilate to fit in and change who I was. When I got to middle school, this all changed. I began learning more about my roots and my passion emerged. In entering high school I formed and helped form seven new clubs that promoted diversity and inclusion. I was on the board for every diversity initiative possible and helped those around me understand empathy.
I am not interested in making sure every place looks the same in terms of demographics or placing people in a certain place to maintain certain diversity numbers. That does not do anything but incite discomfort in everyone. I am however interested in making sure that everyone understands that people are different from them, and all the way that is possible. I want everyone to step out of their own bubble and realize that not only are they better than anyone, but that we all have free rein over how our situation turns out as long as everyone is empathetic and understanding.
This is my goal. At the very least, each one teaches one. If I could just reach 10 people and they reach 10 people each, it could create a lasting ripple effect.
Mission Statement
I am driven by my passionate beliefs about wealth, knowledge, and achievement. I pursue these passions by utilizing my core strengths of communication, futuristic, and competitiveness. I plan to live out these values through opportunities while I am solving and planning to achieve social justice and happiness that impacts legal systems and the underrepresented. To do this, I will seek opportunities to use empathy mapping and make organizational changes. When I face challenges or obstacles along the way, I will remember to make connections with others and nurture my positive view of myself. For my Global Citizen Scholar Mission, I intend to change the world in one way or another. My first passion, wealth, will give me the drive I need to be successful in life so that I can make change happen. From experience, I have realized how hard it is for someone of little power to have a huge impact on something. I am not saying that this is not possible, but it is truly less common than those in power changing things. Therefore, my wealth will give me a chance t have the status to change things. I also believe knowledge is power before I can help anyone, I must educate myself on how to do that, and what I need to do to get there. I can use my knowledge to find new and innovative solutions to old and difficult problems. I also intend to rely heavily on my strengths, especially my futuristic spirit. In order to change something, and come up with a solution, I must be able to look into the future and predict whether it will work. The things I am passionate about fixing our problems that affect people’s everyday lives and if I don’t map out the exact outcome, I could be hurting people inadvertently. Because of my strengths in planning and solving, I believe my goals will be achieved if I continue to be persistent in what I need to do. My plans for the future are to achieve social justice within whatever community I belong to and further represent underrepresented minorities. As a lawyer, I plan to turn the legal system on in the head and give people a new way to think about minorities and minority issues. In the face of any challenges, my main focus will be to just remember whom I am doing this for and why it is important for me. I want to change the lives of others because, without social equality among everyone, peace and harmony will never be achieved.
