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Always encouraged by her parents to use every opportunity in life to grow and discover herself, Mariam Elgafy not only is a PSEO student at Sinclair, but also considers herself the voice of the voiceless.
\n\u201cMy parents are my role models\u2014they taught me what true leadership is. They truly have made me into the person I am today,\u201d Elgafy said.
\nShe said her parents lead by example with their morals, values and beliefs, and she said that is the backbone of who she is.
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\u201cMy beliefs will never change no matter what circumstances I am put in,\u201d Elgafy said. \u201c[My faith] drives me in life, no matter what the obstacles are.\u201d
\nAlong with her parents, she said her Muslim faith gives her direction in her life, as well as being a voice for the oppressed and voiceless people.
\nElgafy recently won a speech meet this semester for her speech on the humanitarian crisis that took place in Cairo, Egypt.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s been happening since 2013, when the lives of people were just taken away from them because they were opposing a military coup peacefully, but then they were bashed and called extremists by everyone around them,\u201d Elgafy said. \u201cNow these people are jailed, and most of them are killed just because they were speaking their [minds].\u201d
\nElgafy said she didn\u2019t view herself as a public speaker at all, but she gives thanks for her communication professor, Kelly Smith, who entered her into the speech meet.
\n\u201cShe was an absolutely tremendous teacher,\u201d Elgafy said. \u201cShe encouraged me and provided me with the most amazing feedback. She really made me believe that despite my age, I could still address audiences.\u201d
\nElgafy gives credit to Sinclair for guiding her on her personal growth process and helping her discover her abilities in public speaking before she attends University of Cincinnati in the fall.
\n\u201c[Sinclair] allowed me to test majors, which if I went to UC straight out of high school, I would\u2019ve wasted at least two years testing my majors because I had absolutely no clue,\u201d Elgafy said.
\nAfter realizing her passion for speaking, she said she wants to focus on journalism. She said she believes that society today allows the media to persuade people\u2019s thoughts today, which is why she is passionate about journalism.
\n\u201cI like journalism because it drills ideas into society\u2014one: we need a Muslim woman so it can balance the rumors out there, and two: we need a different voice,\u201d Elgafy said.
\nShe believes that children are the leaders and revolutionaries of tomorrow, which gives her the drive to also possibly major in early childhood education.
\n\u201c[We need] to start with the younger generation and then we can instill morals and values in them so they become the ones that lead on and change the future,\u201d Elgafy said.
\nShe wants people to know her as a Muslim woman, who is driven by her faith, while making a difference. She said she hopes that when people see a Muslim woman on campus they wont judge her for what\u2019s on the outside.
\n\u201cI want them to see me as a Muslim woman. I am proud of what\u2019s on the outside,\u201d Elgafy said. \u201cI want people to see me as a successful person in any aspect I am in right now. I want people to know I have a voice.\u201d
\nElgafy said she wants to prove stereotypes wrong.
\n \u201cThat\u2019s what I take on stage with me when I speak\u2014it\u2019s mostly my dignity and that I am a Muslim woman, and yes, I am accomplishing things,\u201d Elgafy said.
\nShe said her life is busy, but she loves it. Along with attending Sinclair, and competing in speech meets, Elgafy also volunteers at nursing homes, helps tutor children at her mom\u2019s tutoring center and teaches ice skating lessons.
\n\u201cI have dedicated my life to volunteering, and helping people,\u201d Elgafy said.
\nShe said the most important things in her life are her passion and staying true to her inner voice. Elgafy said once she put her morals and values in front of her, she realized that she wanted to pursue a career in journalism and early childhood education so that she could positively impact lives.
\n\u201cI always say we are not machines\u2014we don\u2019t have machine minds or machine hearts. I am a living person, who has a voice and who is going to speak her mind no matter what,\u201d Elgafy said. \u201cI am the voice of the voiceless.\u201d <\/p>\n
Gabrielle Sharp Always encouraged by her parents to use every opportunity in life to grow and discover herself, Mariam Elgafy not only is a PSEO student at Sinclair, but also considers herself the voice of the voiceless. \u201cMy parents are my role models\u2014they taught me what true leadership is. They truly have made me into the person […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3693,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[2030],"class_list":["post-11755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tartan-news","tag-gabrielle-sharp"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-33B","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3693"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11755"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11757,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11755\/revisions\/11757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nManaging Editor<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"