Samara (Kudzai) Kapurura (Lee Pellegrini)
Hometown: Salem, Ore.
Major: Economics; minor in African and African Diaspora Studies
Notable Activities/Achievements: 2022 Martin Luther King Jr. 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.
Mentors: Michael Davidson, 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 (Campus Ministry); Richard Mapeza (Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center).
Post-Graduation Plans: Considering job offer or graduate school; long-term plan is to go to law school.
卡普拉拉接受了自己的双重文化身份，她的父母是津巴布韦本地人，在她和双胞胎妹妹昆代出生一年前移民到美国. Nourished by a strong family faith, 她通过书面和口头语言分享她对自己和更大世界的观察, 从诗歌比赛到TED演讲再到密集的小组讨论. 她发现电子游戏软件是一个理想的地方，让她在经历第一代大学生的充满挑战的道路时，意识到并聚集自己的优势.
In the last four years, 你被选为美国最佳大学诗人，并做了两次TEDx演讲(都在YouTube上). Was this how you envisioned college life would go?
Not necessarily [laughs]. I came into college from an underprivileged background, 作为一个坚定的信念，如果机会就在你面前, do your best, jump for it. If it’s for you, you’ll prosper; if it’s not, that’s OK, you move on. So I’ve been very active and enthusiastic, 试着把自己投入到一个适合我的机会中, and things have worked out for me, thankfully.
Why did you choose BC, and how do you view that choice now?
我知道我想去一个比我长大的地方人口更稠密的地方, 所以我电子游戏正规平台了波士顿和纽约等地的大学, and BC was among the ones I researched. 我妈妈是天主教徒，而我的家人是基督徒，所以不列颠哥伦比亚省的这方面吸引了我. 但是，了解更多关于不列颠哥伦比亚大学的价值观和耶稣会教育的理念——完全转变——是非常有趣的, not just academically but spiritually, 你的道德观念被改变和塑造，不仅使你成为一个聪明的人，而且成为一个社会上的好人.
四年过去了，我更加明白为什么BC是一个很好的选择. 关于正义和精神的讨论出现在各种主题和各种空间中. The retreat culture at BC is amazing, too; it’s a really nice refresh from when you’re, say, 在微积分考试中:为什么这对你很重要? What else is going on in your life? 你经历过哪些事情?它们与他人有什么关系?
不列颠哥伦比亚省是一个非常好的地方，不仅在智力上，而且在做人方面都得到了提升.
你也有过成功的经历，但你竞选UGBC主席却失败了. What did you take away from that experience?
I’ve had some satisfying individual achievements, 但我在竞选UGBC的过程中意识到，拥有一个强大的团队是多么重要. I think I was used to running fast and running alone, and here the question was, “How do we work together to achieve this goal?“我学到了能够并愿意依靠他人和委派责任的重要性.
You have to be flexible. Like I said, if the opportunity comes along, you take it—but it’s also important to be humble and say, “It didn’t work out.” Learn to accept life as it comes.
你在不列颠哥伦比亚省的第一年，当然是COVID-19大流行的一年. How do you remember that time?
It was very emotional, very bittersweet. I recall the chaos, the sadness, packing up to leave, hugging friends, wondering when we might come back. There were so many resources on campus—tutors, libraries, dining halls, the gym—that I’d come to rely on, 虽然我的老师们在我们转向远程学习时非常包容和理解, I missed just being physically in college. At the same time, I’d worked so hard that year, so it felt good to go home, be back in my house and with family—although, being on the West Coast, I had to start the school day three hours earlier.
此后不久，乔治·弗洛伊德(George Floyd)谋杀案及其后果发生了, 这让bbc发起了“勇敢的正义对话”项目，你作为主持人参与了这个项目.
勇敢的对话是一个谈论种族对话及其复杂性的绝佳平台, whether about health disparities, incarceration, critical race theory, or joy in artistic expression. 这是一个非常安全和进步的空间，可以谈论任何事情，而且非常必要.
作为第一代大学生对你的整体身份有何影响?
You have to be a pioneer and a risk-taker. 昆代学的是产品设计专业，我和他是很好的后盾, 因为有时你会感到迷茫和困惑——你没有在那次考试中得到你希望的分数, 或者你只是累了——你觉得自己没有进步, when in fact there’s a lot of progress being made. 你必须有很大的力量，因为你总是有那个目标在背后. You have to say, “I will wake up for that 8:30 a.m. class!”
你只需要认识到，作为第一个做某事的人，这些都是不可避免的挑战. 但你也必须意识到，努力是有回报的:当我灰心丧气的时候, I look back and I can say, “Kudzai, 你能成为那些你甚至都不知道的人, and that’s because you put yourself in that position, even when you were so tired.“这很艰难，但这是真实的，这是一次如此具有变革性的经历.
Your long-term goal is to attend law school. Why?
I feel really called to social justice and advocacy. 法律领域，即使是所有的技术细节，都让我很感兴趣. I like storytelling. I like investigation. 我喜欢是非曲直——这是部分原因(作为一个经济学专业的学生), I like math, because there are specific rules you follow.
Sean Smith | University Communications | May 2023