As a part of Mount Leadership Society, we celebrated leadership month, that concluded with our leadership summit in October. Every year there is a new theme for summit that corresponds to one of our Mount essentials. This year’s theme was consciousness of self, so we further developed how we can be more self aware in a variety of contexts. We were also able to pick two breakout sessions to attend; I attended “An Unapologetic Black Girl Issa Professional Black Girl!” and “Gender as a Social Construct”.

In the first workshop, listed above, we discussed stereotypes with black girls and being professional black girls, in the way that we take being a black girl as serious as being a professional. I now represent myself in this light, and as a black girl in today’s society I personally related to much of the material that was shared. In the second workshop listed we defined the “boxes” of male and female gender, how society has constructed these boxes, and the stereotypes and assumptions that correlate to them. I learned some pressures that guys face simply because of their gender, that I hadn’t ever thought of and how that can affect them. In general, I found our discussion riveting and very thought provoking.

Overall Mount Summit was a very great learning experience and lead me to new insights. I think anytime you can learn something new, or a new perspective on a subject, it can not only make you more informed, but also lead you to think more critically of your own thoughts and actions.