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Leave A Legacy

Leah Trotman '21

International Relations

Leah Trotman '21

利亚·特罗特曼的肖像挂在阿格尼斯·斯科特的奥尔斯顿学生中心的一面著名的墙上.  Artist Yehimi Cambron ’14 produced a portrait series in 2016, featuring nine Agnes Scott students and their stories.  Trotman, who was a first year student at the time she was featured, saw this portrait as the beginning of her Agnes Scott legacy.  “I thought, ‘they put my face up there, now I’ve got to do something,’” reflects Trotman, now Senior Class President.

For this Scottie, “do[ing] something,” unfolded to mean completing a SUMMIT global specialization, 领导学院学生会的各项工作, studying abroad in Guatemala and Argentina, submitting an academic paper for publication, advising her peers as a writing tutor and Peer Advisor, and, of course, participating in Agnes Scott’s choir, Collegiate Chorale.

Trotman’s most recent accomplishment, though?  In April of 2020, 在学院转向远程学习以应对冠状病毒之后不久, she received a call from Agnes Scott College’s President Zak.  Trotman had been named a Truman Scholar, 这是该学院自2009年以来的第一位获奖者,也是自1975年该项目成立以来的第五位获奖者. 杜鲁门奖学金是为那些在公共服务和领导方面目标明确、表现卓越的学生提供的奖学金.  她是从来自316所高校的773名申请者中被提名的62名学者之一. 

Then, in December, Trotman, along with just 46 other students in the United States, received the honor of being named a Marshall Scholarship recipient, 世界上最具竞争力的奖学金项目是哪个. 这是该项目奖学金历史上第一个少数族裔占多数的班级, including eight recipients from the Atlanta region, 这也使Trotman成为第一位获得马歇尔奖学金的美国学生.S. Virgin Islands. As a recipient, 她将获得全额资助,在英国自己选择的院校学习. 这位国际关系专业的学生说,她的大学决定在她与这些机会的联系中发挥了作用. 

“I think if I would’ve gone to a bigger college, 我可能没有接触到我在阿格尼斯接触到的一些东西. I couldn’t replicate that elsewhere. ”

Leah Trotman

Trotman在彼得·格鲁伯国际学院的最后一年做出了这个影响深远的决定, an International Baccalaureate high school in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.  She describes her home and her community in St. 托马斯有着不可否认的喜爱,并致力于在她接触的每个项目和每个社区中复制该社区的影响.  

她回忆说,在找大学的时候,她对上女子学院感到不确定, but interested in the college's opportunities for global studies.  At the encouragement of her high school counselor, 特罗特曼参加了艾格尼丝·斯科特在学校举办的信息交流会,并在咖啡馆与她进行了两个小时的聊天, then Director of Admission, Alexa Gaeta.  Over the next few months, Trotman received attentive and personalized communication, 包括学院打来的几个电话,甚至还有当时的校长艾格尼丝·斯科特的一封电子邮件, Elizabeth Kiss.  

这些人际关系巩固了Trotman将Agnes Scott学院作为自己家的决定, 这也是莉娅选择在艾格尼丝·斯科特待上四年的原因.  After being asked who “has her back” on campus, Trotman兴奋地分享了她最好的两个朋友的名字:Natasha Griffin和Kaitlyn Mills.  Trotman和Griffin在《推荐十大正规网赌平台》中一起参加了一个小组, 艾格尼丝·斯科特的领导力浸入式课程,在入职培训期间进行, and according to Trotman, they “have not separated since.利亚说:“我提交罗兹申请的时候,我们在电话里。.” 

Trotman对人际关系的信仰,就像她在Agnes Scott和St. Thomas, guides the community work that she does now, and the work she hopes to continue after graduation.  Her published essay, An Unexplored Nexus: The Central American Migration Crisis, Climate Change, 《推荐十大正规网赌平台》则通过绿色理论的视角探讨中美洲移民.  She refers to this essay, 哪些读者可以在《正规博彩十大网站排名》中找到, 作为“呼吁行动起来,为什么我们需要以环境为中心的政策。.” 

她在艾格尼丝·斯科特的课程影响了她对这些主题的理解,也影响了她为支持受气候危机影响的社区所能做的工作.  她将国际关系描述为她构建世界的方式——通过殖民主义的镜头, feminism, and green theory, for example, and Public Health, 作为一种方法,找到关于如何创造变化的切实答案.

When asked about her most impactful course at Agnes Scott, Trotman described a class she took titled, Decolonizing the Mind taught by Professor Waqas Khwaja.  “后殖民主义是观察加勒比海和拉丁美洲的有效视角,” Trotman declares, “the conversation was amazing.Trotman还强调了她遇到Author的机会, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, whose work they read as part of the class, at the college’s Annual Writer’s Festival in 2019.  

 

african american woman posing on gazebo

“现在,我们正在制定一项关于课程非殖民化的决议,这是一个完整的循环,” Trotman shares, 暗指学生政府协会最近在大学教学大纲和整体课程中挑战殖民主义建筑的努力.  “People in academia think change is slow,她宣称,“我想要打破常规。.”  

In efforts such as this one, Trotman认为自己是选举她的学生们的盟友和代言人, 这意味着有时会挑战政府及其政策.  “This is what our liberal arts education was designed to do,” she explains, “I enjoy looking at these intellectual challenges, and that’s what I will continue to do.”

So, Trotman计划如何作为盟友继续参与这些挑战, community member and soon to be liberal arts graduate?  她目前正在申请罗德奖学金(Rhodes Scholarships)等奖学金,并考虑加入和平队(Peace Corps)等服务机构.  Regardless of the prestige of these opportunities, Trotman approaches each application intentionally, 深刻反映了她自己的目的,以及她试图代表的组织的历史作用, “我申请是因为我想推动这些社区的发展,还是我符合这个体系?” she continuously asks herself.  Trotman还在考虑将来攻读公共卫生硕士学位.  她想在当地公共卫生部门工作,并在工作和学习中考虑自然灾害应对.  

Of course, 继续这些令人兴奋的下一步意味着首先从艾格尼丝·斯科特毕业, 对于那些受到Trotman正规博彩十大网站排名影响的社区成员来说,这是一个苦乐参半的概念, and rooting for her success.  When asked what legacy she hopes to leave behind, she reflected on her portrait in Alston, and her words that are featured prominently on display.  “In it I talk about community,” she explains, “I hope people remember me as someone who walked into a room, made others smile or made them feel heard. I hope everyone I had interactions with knows that is who I am, someone who cares about interpersonal connections...someone who pushed as hard as they could for the students.” 


作者简介:杰德·多明戈是正规博彩十大网站排名的招生高级助理主任.  A proud New Orleanian and liberal arts alum, Jade graduated from Loyola University New Orleans with a B.A. 还有一个写满了创意文章的笔记本,写完了还是没写完.  When she is not singing the praises of Scotties like Leah, Jade enjoys solo traveling, baking chocolate chip cookies, discussing intersectional feminism, and spending time with friends, family, and a little black cat named Elphaba. 

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