The first wave of Saint Mary's girls to return to campus this year was the student, who returned a few days early from summer vacation to prepare for Welcome Week. When we got here, we were all bubbling with energy for the new school year. After moving in and catching up with friends, we all headed over to Kenan Library to find out how we would begin our leadership training. In a break from the traditional activities of welcome back speeches, establishing group norms, and participating in icebreakers, we learned that an outside company would be leading our first afternoon together. The only thing we knew was that it was supposed to take five hours – a long chunk of time when first readjusting to a school schedule!

Ms. Jackson introduced us to Amit Dodani, CEO and founder of the company My Name My Story, and we dove right in. Amit, a 19-year-old student and Robertson Scholar at UNC-Chapel Hill, was funny, energetic, and relatable. He quickly captured the attention of the crowd of Saint Mary's student leaders. He began by telling us his story about how he transitioned from an awkward middle schooler with a speech impediment to a mock trial national champion. This introduction, while powerful on its own, set the stage for the main focus of our afternoon: sharing stories to create empathy.

After Amit shared his story, we each had a chance to share our own through several activities in pairs, small groups, or all together. The activity I found most challenging, but also the most eye-opening, was one in which we had to share our stories with someone we did not know well. While all the leaders knew each other at least by name, we were asked to pair up with someone we hadn't spent as much time with in the past. We started by telling each other one of our happiest moments and then each partner had to repeat the other's story back to her. This was the easy part. Following that, we had to tell our partner about a really difficult moment. This was a point in the session when I saw a lot of emotion and it was impressive to see how vulnerable every girl was allowing herself to be, especially with another student who was not her close friend. We then had to tell our partner's story back to her from the first person, as if it was our own. While there were many takeaways from this, one of the biggest lessons I learned was that no matter how carefully you listen, you can never tell someone's story back in the same way. You don't have the same emotions or attachments, and as many people noted during our group debrief, it's not your story to tell.

We ended the day with a simple, but gratifying activity. Most of the students sat with their eyes closed while a small group walked around and tapped individuals in response to a prompt. Amit would say "tap someone you learned something from today," "tap someone who you respect," or "tap someone you think is beautiful." It was a great feeling to be tapped, and even better to have the chance to tap someone else and acknowledge her for what she had taught you.

Through my time with My Name My Story, I grew both as an individual and a leader and learned skills that I can hopefully put to use in our Saint Mary's community and beyond.

Mary Hunter Russell '18
Boarding Prefect