Everyone has a story to share, listening and learning from it can promote leadership in the community.
The Emporia State University Annual Bonner and Bonner Diversity Lecture Series presented Thursday evening the topic of “The Power of Story and the Danger of Absence.” Speaker and Assistant Professor of Teacher Education at the University of Nebraska at Omaha Dr. Ferial Pearson says it is important to share the stories of people who are part of underrepresented groups because it empowers them and teaches others how to support these groups.
Pearson shared personal experiences where she and others close to her experienced different types of violence and reflected that the cause is the absence of stories of underrepresented groups as they seem not to belong to the mainstream.
Pearson says that after working in education for over 20 years she has been able to interact with students of different ages which taught her that anyone could be a leader. She says her students inspired and took part in creating the Secret Kindness Agents Project which promotes leadership through kindness and is currently in many places in the world.
The Bonner and Bonner Lecture Series was established in 1992 and was named in honor of Drs. Thomas and Mary Bonner, Emporia State’s first and second African American faculty members. Emporia State’s Honor College started organizing the lecture in 2015 and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion joined in 2022.