萨马拉(库扎伊)卡普拉拉(李·佩莱格里尼)
家乡:俄勒冈州塞勒姆.
主要: Economics; minor in African and African Diaspora Studies
引人注目的活动/成就: 2022年马丁·路德·金. Scholarship; America’s Best College Poet competition winner (2021); delivered two TEDx Talks; Undergraduate Government of BC presidential candidate (2022); Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center ambassador; Magis Civil Rights Immersion Trip; Courageous Conversations facilitator; Black History Month Opening Ceremony co-chair; student co-leader for Jamaica Magis Service Immersion and Arrupe South African service programs; two-time Ever to Excel Award recipient; Morrissey College Order of the Cross and Crown honor society.
导师:迈克尔·戴维森，S.J. (Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center; Montserrat Coalition); Danielle Date (Lynch School of Education and Human Development); Richard Paul (African and African Diaspora Studies Program); Emily Egan (校园 Ministry); Richard Mapeza (Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center).
毕业后的计划: Considering job offer or graduate school; long-term plan is to go to law school.
Kapurura has embraced her bicultural identity as the daughter of Zimbabwe natives who immigrated to the United States a year before she and her twin sister Kundai were born. 受到强烈的家庭信仰的滋养, she shares her observations about herself and the larger world through the written and spoken word, and in a variety of contexts—from poetry competitions to TED Talks to intensive group discussions. She’s found 电子游戏软件 to be the ideal place for her to realize and gather her strengths while traversing the challenging path of a first-generation college student.
在过去的四年里, you’ve been chosen as America’s Best College Poet and given two TEDx Talks (both on YouTube). 这是你想象中的大学生活吗?
不一定[笑]. 我上大学时家境贫寒, and as a big believer in the idea that if there’s an opportunity right in front of you, 尽你所能, 跳起来吧. If it’s for you, you’ll prosper; if it’s not, that’s OK, you move on. 所以我一直非常积极和热情, trying to put myself into an opportunity if it feels right for me, 事情对我来说已经解决了, 值得庆幸的是.
你为什么选择BC，你现在如何看待这个选择?
I knew I wanted to be in a more populated area than where I grew up, so I looked at colleges in places like Boston and New York City, BC是我电子游戏正规平台的对象之一. My mom grew up Catholic, and in my family we grew up Christian, so that aspect of BC appealed to me. But it was so interesting to learn more about BC’s values and the idea of Jesuit education—of being fully transformed, 不仅在学术上，而且在精神上, and your morals are shifted and molded not only in a way that makes you a smart person but a good person in society.
After four years, I have an even better sense of why BC was a good fit. Conversations about justice and spirituality come up in all sorts of subjects and all sorts of spaces. 不列颠哥伦比亚省的静修文化令人惊叹, too; it’s a really nice refresh from when you’re, 说, in the middle of a calculus exam: 为什么 is this important to you? 你的生活中还发生了什么? What are the things that you’ve been through and how do they relate to others?
BC has been such a great place to grow fully and become elevated not only intellectually but as a person.
You’ve had your share of successes, but you ran as a candidate for UGBC president and lost. 你从那次经历中学到了什么?
我有一些令人满意的个人成就, but what I realized in running for UGBC is how important it is to have a strong team with you. 我想我习惯了跑得快，一个人跑, 问题是, “我们如何共同努力实现这一目标?” I learned the importance of being able and willing to lean on others and delegate responsibility.
你必须要灵活. 像我说的, 如果机会来了, 你接受它，但谦虚地说也很重要, “没有成功.“学会接受生活的本来面目.
Your first year at BC was, of course, marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. 你是怎么记得那段时光的?
非常激动，苦乐参半. 我回忆起混乱, 悲伤, 收拾行李准备离开, 拥抱的朋友, 想知道我们什么时候能回来. 校园里有很多资源——导师, 库, 食堂, 健身房——我可以依靠的地方, and although my teachers were accommodating and understanding when we switched to remote learning, 我怀念大学时的身体状态. 同时, 那一年我工作非常努力, 所以回家的感觉真好, 回到我的房子，和家人在一起，尽管, 在西海岸, 我不得不提前三个小时开始上课.
Then shortly thereafter came the George Floyd murder and its aftermath, which led to BC starting the Courageous Conversations Toward Justice program—in which you participated as a facilitator.
Courageous Conversations was an amazing platform to talk about racial dialogue and all of its complexities, 健康差异, 监禁, 临界种族理论, 或是艺术表现的乐趣. It was just a really safe and progressive space to talk about any and every thing, and so necessary.
How does being a first-generation college student influence your overall identity?
你必须成为一个开拓者和冒险者. Kundai—who’s a product design major—and I are a good support system for one another, because there are moments when you’re lost and confused—you didn’t get the grade you hoped for on that exam, or you’re just tired—and you feel like you’re not making progress, 事实上，我们已经取得了很大的进步. You have to have a lot of strength, because you always have that goal in the background. 你必须说:“我会在早上8点半起床.m. class!”
You just have to recognize that these are the inevitable challenges that come with the burden of being the first to do something. But you also have to realize that the hard work does pay off: When I get discouraged, 回首往事，我可以说, “Kudzai, you’ve been able to be all these things you didn’t even know were out there, 那是因为你把自己置于那种境地, 即使你很累.” It’s been hard, and it’s been real, and it’s been such a transformative experience.
你的长期目标是上法学院. 为什么?
我觉得我真的被召唤去社会正义和倡导. The legal field, even in all its technicalities, just intrigues me. 我喜欢讲故事. 我喜欢调查. I like rights and wrongs—that’s in part why (being an econ major), 我喜欢数学。, 因为你要遵守特定的规则.
肖恩·史密斯|大学传播| 2023年5月