Julia Weatherspoon
Eastern Florida State College
Julia Weatherspoon, a third year Bachelor's student at Eastern Florida State College, is a tremendous student leader who empowers others to address social problems through community organizing and active citizenship. For the past two years she has partnered with numerous community organizations and government offices as part of her leadership positions within SGA, the Environmental club and the Rotaract club to coordinate efforts to ameliorate a variety of needs. Julia is an extraordinarily talented, resourceful, poised and inspiring activist and advocate whose efforts have made measureable improvements in local issues in our natural environment, impoverished neighborhoods, and community development. She is the ideal example of servant leadership, always modeling effective civic engagement and recruiting the diverse strengths of those around her to search for collaborative and creative solutions to complex community problems. She is the epitome of a positive, professional, and purpose-driven student leader.
Personal Statement
Having grown up in impoverished areas of Cocoa as one of four children to a widowed mother, I feel I have gained a unique perspective to what social issues are important to the individuals within these communities. For me the greatest root causes of social issues are a lack of education and civic engagement. Civic engagement gives individuals at all levels a sense of unity and community pride, as well as helping individuals to understand their rights as citizens. My end goal in anything I do through service on campus or in my community is to educate as many people as I can, and encourage broad participation in civic engagement projects. The growth I have experienced through community service and the education of my peers and community members has been incredible. Perhaps more incredible to me is this same growth and broadening of education I see in others I interact with during civic engagement and educational outreach projects. My career goals include either working for, or creating my own non-profit to address these issues more directly than I have been able to in my current roles.
