By Kerrigan Smedley, Reporter
On Oct. 1 at the Cook Carriage House students and faculty assembled to hear senior Michaela Faith talk about leadership, rejections and saying no. Faith delivered the second HerStory of the 26-27 academic school year.
Faith giving her talk – Photo by Ashlyn Armock
Michaela Faith is a senior double majoring in Business Administration and Theater with a minor in Legal Studies. She is the Chairperson of Aquinas’ Student Senate, a Box Office Assistant at Circle Theatre and CDI&E Diversity Assistant.
Faith talked about many examples of her assuming leadership positions and how that has molded her story at Aquinas. She discussed facing rejection through the years and the Imposter Syndrome that comes from being rejected from a role or from getting a role. She shared how it is okay to say no to opportunities if your plate is too full or when you are uncomfortable. No means no, if it is not yes then it is no.
HerStory is hosted by Aquinas’ Women and Gender Studies Center. With Oct. being National Domestic Violence Awareness month, Faith’s HerStory brought awareness to how people might remain in relationships that sexual harassment and assault occur due to lack of self actualization of the event. Faith used the definition “sexual assault is any nonconsensual sexual contact or behavior that occurs without clear, voluntary, and explicit permission.” Further details about this issue can be found at the end of the article.
Faith describing her childhood – Photo by Ashlyn Armock
Among some of the audience was senior Cristiana Worthams, senior Alexis Nutter, and senior CJ Guillermo. Worthams “personally struggles with feeling like an inadequate leader at times, especially in theatre” and Faith’s story helped her to realize that she is not alone in that feeling. She was also inspired “to be more comfortable trying new things and taking control of her time at Aquinas.”
Guillermo shared his biggest takeaway from Faith’s HerStory was “that everyone’s success story is different…[and] it is nice to have [a] reminder that even the most put together people, who have a lot of impact around campus were not born that way, but went through their own hardships and still to try and do what is best for their community.” Guillermo describes how Faith is a good example “of someone who has gone through her fair share of hell and still wants to give back to those around her.”
“Many of us have had bad friends [before].” Nutter said. “We had to learn how to navigate those friendships in one way or another. In Michaela’s story, she disengaged with the friend who belittled her. At such a young age, she understood that you must let others take their own path. You can’t make them like you, no matter how good you are or how hard you try. She knew that it was this friend’s choice to be unhappy with her, and she let her friend do just that, moving on to friends who did appreciate her and treat her nicely. This is something that a lot of us do not know how to do until later in life. But Michaela surrendered control and did what made her happy instead of relying on the emotions of her “friend” to understand her worth. If only we could have all had a friend like Michaela to teach us a bit of this in our [early] school years.”
The next HerStory will be Brigid Bridig Avery and will take place on Nov. 5 at 12:15 pm at the Cook Carriage House.
Contacts for on campus resources. Aquinas College’s Title IX Coordinator can be reached at titleix@aquinas.edu. Further Title IX information can be found on the Aquinas College website under Student Affairs. Counseling, Health & Wellness located in Lower Level Wege Student Center. The link to make appointments can be found on the Aquinas College website under Offices or call (616) 632-2902.
