| Pillar # | Statement | How they do it? | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | To ease the process of adaptation for international students at W&L and actively support their academic and social developments. | Team-building activities, events | |||
| 2 | To improve cultural diversity on campus and promote relationships between people of different cultures. | Multicultural events | |||
| 3 | To raise awareness and provide answers to the world's social, cultural and political issues. | Discussion-based activities, events | |||
Bringing It to Life: SAIL at W&L's Mock Con 2020
Mock Con represented the perfect context and venue to publicize SAIL’s mission and values. Every four years, Mock Con unifies the entire school, regardless of the divisiveness of politics, to produce an accurate prediction of who the party out of power will nominate to run for U.S. President. This year’s Mock Con proved no different. Throughout the weekend of February 14th, the live-streamed event brought together over 1,500 students and guests, along with keynote speakers. The one who spoke on behalf of SAIL was Jamal Magoti - an international student from Tanzania. The fact that Jamal represented SAIL at such a highly-publicized event stands out as a major achievement for the organization. With so many listening, Jamal had the opportunity to share the organization's own mission and values to unify the campus community and promote the harmonious coexistence of cultures.
The Speech
Through Jamal's speech the organization gained massive notoriety, and were able to use the platform they were given to spread their message and educate to people beyond the W&L community about the organization, and their mission. First and foremost their three pillars: to ease the process of adaptation for international students at W&L and actively support their academic and social developments, to improve cultural diversity on campus and promote relationships between people of different cultures, and to raise awareness and provide answers to the world's social, cultural and political issues. This made Mock Con the perfect platform for organization to expose the world to the work and good they do on W&L's campus, and its availability to the student body.
The presence of the organization at this prominent event gave them an opportunity to reach an entirely new level of exposure. This was expertly taken advantage of by Jamal Magoti, who spoke so eloquently about the values of the club, and the way that those values fit into the community. This was extremely fitting for the events at Mock Con, which is entirely about exploring a diversity of opinions in order to predict the outcome of a presidential primary.
"SAIL holds close to heart the belief that, it is only
through coming together and through the harmonious coexistence
of different cultures that we as a campus,
and ultimately as future change-makers
will positively impact the world we live in."
The event also saw the likes of Trevor Noah coming to speak, and he highlighted the importance of diversity of opinion, and spoke on his personal experiences growing up in South Africa. This made Jamal's speech even more hard hitting, and allowed all those viewing the events of Mock Con to fully digest the issues of diversity, which is something that can so easily be lost in the shuffle, and looked over by people who aren't personally impacted by it. This year's directors of Mock Con made sure that this wasn't the case giving Jamal a platform to speak, alongside all the famous speakers who travelled far and wide to be a part of the event.
Highlighting this speech is extremely important for the organization because it is a turning point on the campus, and for the group. This was by far the largest platform that the organization has enjoyed this year, and with Mock Con being the marquis event for the year in 2020, speaking at it was a major accomplishment for the entire group. Jamal did not shy away from this moment, and wasn't afraid to give a hard hitting and heartfelt speech.
We hope you enjoy this speech from Jamal, and realize the impact that it had on the organization and the entire campus. Finally, we also hope it isn't lost on the public that this event gets massive amounts of attention in the political universe, and the fact that Jamal was able to highlight the diversity of W&L at this event is extremely important. Moving forward we hope that Jamal's excellent speech is a springboard for the organization on campus, and moving forward allows the group to be a headline for other marquis events on campus and in the Lexington, Virginia community at large.
The Speaker
Since the beginning of his freshman year in the Fall of 2019, Jamal Magoti
has been an active member of SAIL. Specifically, as an international student
from Tanzania, SAIL’s mission resonated with him and led him to become a part
of the organization’s Executive Board. He helps with planning, running,
and attending meetings and events. He also helps on the publicity front of the
organization by promoting these events and meetings on social media and
drawing students’ attention to SAIL flyers. Beyond SAIL, Jamal’s leadership skills
have allowed him to become a Peer Counselor for the following school year so
he can help incoming freshman also feel welcomed and comfortable in their
new community. Lastly, he plans on majoring in Neuroscience where he can
realize his passion for the sciences.