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“Stretch your arms out wide. Now, take them and wrap them around yourself,” said Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Venessa A. Brown, PhD. 

Brown, associate athletics director for diversity, equity and inclusion, athletics chief diversity officer and professor of social work, spoke to a red, pink and white decorated roomful of SIUE East St. Louis Charter High School (CHS) female students on Wednesday, Feb. 14 in the Multipurpose Room on the Wyvetter H. Younge Higher Education Campus. 

“And say, ‘I love you!” encouraged Brown. “If no one else says that to you today, it’s up to you to say it, and to do it.” 

The CHS students had gathered for their annual Valentine’s celebration that included a speaker, lunch, and a time of painting. “I had a vision, and I decided that when I was in education, I would do everything in my power to make sure students know they are seen,” said CHS Director Gina Jeffries, EdD. “I hope you feel seen, celebrated and honored today.” 

Jeffries introduced Brown, the guest speaker, for the luncheon. “She is a phenomenal woman and a phenomenal speaker,” said Jeffries. “She is a perfect person to bring words of motivation and encouragement, and to challenge us to be our best selves.” 

“It’s time for a reset,” intoned Brown. “Charter High School is where hope happens, and part of hope is dreaming and believing.” 

In reorganizing their lives, Brown instructed the young women to create bucket lists of compassion, creativity, quitter and radical. 

“Compassion requires time and attention,” she said. “These are two valuable things you can spend on yourself to make you better, and then you can be assured that the world will be a little better by you having lived in it.” 

The application was for the students to write three acts of kindness. When asked to share, some of the responses were: “Show more appreciation to my mom” and “Uplift my sisters more.” 

With the second bucket list of “creativity,” Brown informed the students, “Creativity is not limited to art. It can be in the form of intelligence to talent. Experiment. Have fun. Take risks. Don’t worry about making mistakes. Don’t fear failure.” 

The next bucket list was something she wanted to encourage the students to stop doing. “This is your quitter bucket,” said Brown. “There are some things that are not helpful and healthy for you mentally, intellectually, physically and spiritually.” 

“This is where you can focus on self-improvement and quit bad habits,” she continued. 

Finally, Brown encouraged the students to get radical. “It means to get outside of your comfort zone,” she explained. “That’s how we grow. No one is born with courage, but I encourage and challenge you to grow and stretch yourselves.” 

Women of Charter. Women of distinction. Women of hope,” Brown thundered. “Go out and change the world!” 

The SIUE East St. Louis Charter High School is a school-of-choice for families in the East St. Louis School District 189. The mission of the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Charter High School is to prepare students who are career- and college-ready upon graduation. To achieve this mission, the school and its staff will positively impact the educational and economic lives of East St. Louis, Illinois youth through individualized instruction in core academic subjects, exploration of career interests and aptitudes, assistance in realizing students’ talents, high academic goals, and expectations that graduates will become competitive employees for the 21st century.  

Photos:
Venessa A. Brown, PhD, associate athletics director for diversity, equity and inclusion, athletics chief diversity officer and professor of social work, spoke to a red, pink and white decorated roomful of SIUE East St. Louis Charter High School (CHS) female students on Wednesday, Feb. 14.