Mari Santillan | Student

Leaving a Legacy

Throughout these four years, I’ve been able to trace back every involvement, friendship, challenge and success to one thing: community. During my freshman year, seniors ingrained in me the importance of community building and community healing. I always think back to the powerful seniors who helped shape my definition of leadership.

To be a leader doesn’t mean you have to be the loudest person in the room or the most popular. Being a leader is about how you make people feel. It’s about how much access you can get to spaces that sometimes feel unreachable. I learned to open up spaces so vulnerability was never invalidated. I learned that leaders don’t just delegate; we get down and work with the collective to ensure the task gets done.

Although I am eternally grateful for my nomination for this year’s Walker Cup, all the community work I’ve done came from a genuine place of care. We do work that actively challenges the institution we are a part of in order to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our brothers and sisters. It’s not something that needs a reward because the work you do for your community and the work you do for the kids following you is always worth so much more.

This is my legacy. A legacy where others feel empowered and motivated to make change. I hope to have left a legacy at DePauw of fire and devotion. A fire that burns throughout the years that future generations can feed from. 

Majors: Communication and Spanish
Involvement: chapter vice president, Sigma Lambda Gamma; president, Gamma Upsilon chapter of Order of Omega; co-president, Xi Iota chapter of the Lambda Pi Eta (National Communication Studies Honor Society); secretary, Multicultural Greek Council; Connections mentor; speaking center tutor; foundations of communication peer tutor
Internships:  Student-faculty research with Ariel Zach, former assistant professor, on inclusivity within the Spanish curriculum, findings presented at the seventh National Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language hosted by the University of New Mexico
Future plans: Teach For America, Dallas-Fort Worth