Last month, Malala Yousafzai became the youngest person, at age 17, to win the Nobel Peace Prize for her devoted advocacy in her mission to ensure that all females around the world have the right to an education. Her story has become a rallying cry and she is known around the globe. Born in Pakistan, her town was taken over by the Taliban, and the school founded by her father, Ziaudden Yousafzai, was threatened because girls were allowed to attend. Malala became targeted personally for her passionate stance, and was shot in the head in an assassination attempt as she rode the bus home from school. Not only did she survive the attack, but she has taken her fight against the Taliban’s position worldwide. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif commended her as the pride of Pakistan and encouraged: “Girls and boys of the world should take lead from her struggle and commitment.”
And that’s exactly what the girls at Mount Saint Joseph Academy, commonly referred to as “The Mount,” in Flourtown, PA, did. “You’re never going to hear a teacher here who tells you your ideas are too big. Nothing’s ever too big. And that’s just what you get in every single class…they say ‘I support you. Go for it,'” explained senior Jess Tyrrell.
So when the 16 students in the 20/20 club (an organization that’s committed to solving 20 global problems over a span of 20 years) at the all-female Catholic high school read Malala Yousafzai’s autobiography “I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban” last spring, it was the club’s advisor Kate Shevlin who encouraged the girls to reach out to Malala.
Colleen McBride, one of the members of the club, had just been elected student body president for the 2014-2015 school year. With the theme of “Bring a Whole New Spirit to the Mount” in mind, Colleen knew this was a big idea and she ran with it.
“Reading her book, and realizing that she was our own age, and that even though she’s across the world we can still connect to her, I knew there was something to this, that this is happening for a reason. Our mission at The Mount is ‘On the education of women largely lies the future of society,’ Colleen said. “Then we realized she was coming to Philadelphia and it became real, it became an attainable goal.
“We decided we wanted to ask Malala to come to The Mount, and when we found out she was going to be receiving the Liberty Medal here, we began brainstorming. Even though this was in June, we knew October 21st was going to be here before we knew it. We decided to make a video, and we spent the whole week of July 4th filming and putting it together.”
Katie Mars, another student in the group, came up with the video’s tag line, “Malala is…” and all the girls then took it from there.
“We were talking about it, and I went home and decided to write a reflection. I write poems and reflections when I have spare time and feel inspired, and it all just sort of happened,” Katie explained.
With the video finished and on YouTube, they began an ardent twitter campaign at https://twitter.com/mountformalala to get their message to Malala. “We tweeted directly to Malala, and everyday we would have a tweet dedicated to her—like a picture of her, or a quote, and then throughout the day we would post the video saying ‘We made this video for Malala, we stand in solidarity with her, education first.’ And then we would do small stuff; for her birthday, July 12th, I made her cupcakes that said ‘Mount for Malala’ on them and posted the photo, and that was the first favorite [on their twitter account] we got directly from her,” Colleen said.
“Eason Jordan, the director of operations and communications of the Malala Fund, he reached out to my account and the Mount for Malala account,” Colleen relayed. “First they said thank you for this inspirational video, so we knew they had actually seen the video. And then he tweeted to me and said, ‘Would you be able to have a phone chat tomorrow regarding Malala’s Philadelphia visit?’ so the next day I was sitting here in this room and Eason said ‘Malala and the Malala Fund are so impressed with your efforts.’ We had worked so hard, and it was a huge group effort and then to hear that they’re impressed—and they’re inspired by US–when we’re so inspired by THEM, it was just an incredible thing.”
Although due to time constraints and security issues, Malala wouldn’t be able to schedule a visit to The Mount, the 16 girls all got an invitation to attend the Liberty Medal Ceremony.
Colleen was further blown away when Eason told her, “Five girls will be onstage at the ceremony to read blogs and then greet Malala, and the Malala Fund has chosen you to be one of those girls.”
“That was such an honor for me,” Colleen said. “Because it wasn’t just for me. I was representing the whole school on that stage, and I wore my uniform. And I know Malala loves her uniform, so I was really proud to be up there representing The Mount. I sat right behind her onstage. We stood and greeted her, and that was the first time we made eye contact. I was just beaming and it was just an overwhelming experience. I read her excerpt about when the Taliban first came to her village, and the artillery fire she and her friend heard as they were doing their homework. They thought it was a normal day, and weren’t really focused on it. Then it talked about her blog, and how no one could know it was written by her.”
Although the other girls weren’t onstage, they did meet Malala as part of the Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit before the actual ceremony. As they waited for Malala to meet them, “the energy was just amazing,” Jess said. “The room went completely silent the second she walked in. I’m pretty sure everyone was just staring because she just walks in and she’s this larger than life figure.” Katie further described the moment, “She took the entire presence of the room, and everyone was focused on her. Though she’s very small in stature, she has such a big presence. And she’s just so humble as well. She’s accomplished so much but she just came in and shook hands with every single person in the room.”
“We met her dad as well,” Jess went on. “He’s much more talkative than she was. He said, ‘Yes, my daughter has this opportunity to go and spread her message, but it’s left to people like you to spread it around.’ He’s saying that every single girl is inspirational, and to hear that from someone whose daughter is the biggest inspiration in the world was so encouraging. He believes we can be like her without having the kind of situation she’s suffered. It just takes the courage to stand up and go for it.”
For Katie, Ziaudden Yousafzai’s message was just as powerful. “He said, ‘Every girl is special.’ A Nobel Peace Prize winner’s father is telling me I’m special. Sometimes you forget that. It’s not about me personally being special, but everyone, even the girls who feel forgotten, they ARE special. It really brought new light to my eyes.”
The experience has been a life changing one for all the girls.
Colleen explained, “I went home that night thinking, okay, Malala came here to Philadelphia and she inspired us so much. Now she has left and she’s going on to other countries, but we have the obligation to carry out her message here in the United States. We’re a developed country—and she works to help girls in countries that aren’t developed—but we still have those problems here. We want to continue her mission. I envision all teen-age girls coming together and really being supportive of one another, and being able to create a network where we can be there for one another.”
“We want to start a new initiative here in the schools in Philadelphia,” Jess said. “Malala’s focused on the big picture, so if we start working towards doing little things and make a difference on a local level, hopefully that will spread all over the country. The Philadelphia school system is the perfect example because it’s just in crisis right now. But every single voice that stands with us for the Philadelphia schools counts. Malala said, ‘When the whole world’s silent, one voice becomes powerful’ and you can imagine how many voices we can raise for the schools here.”
“We’re brainstorming right now,” Colleen revealed. “We’re an all-girls school, and there are many like us in our area and we’d like to come together, including girls in co-ed schools that share the same message. By coming together, and starting an organization, we can have an impact in Philadelphia and help here. And then if other schools around the country do this, and they can focus locally, it’s really a national impact. We’re thinking, start local, think global.”
And they all have plans to continue their mission beyond their 2015 graduation.
“I’ve completely transitioned,” Colleen said. “I was always into science, and last year I thought I wanted to be a nutritionist. That was my goal, and I still love science, but being elected president, and then being in this initiative, I’ve really embraced my leadership skills and my creativity. I now see myself focusing on an emphasis on education, and the whole planning process within the community and carrying out a mission of women’s education.”
With Jess, the experience solidified her plans for the future. “I’ve always wanted to major in foreign affairs, with a minor in communication. So, what I’ve realized now is that I want to be an advocate for countries like Pakistan, for these countries that don’t have nearly the rights we have.”
And Katie is still up in the air, but is “looking into public policy and political science, maybe even going into the government realm or the non-profit realm—an area where I can help girls in this country who are struggling for an education…I would even love to be President one day—set your hopes and standards high! I’ve got a few years.”
Wherever they end up individually, they all see themselves coming together again in the future to continue their mission. Colleen summed it up: “I think it’s exciting because we all took this initiative and we’re running with it now with our futures. And I feel like we’re all going to go our separate directions, but say, Katie’s in politics, and I’m staying here in America helping, and Jess is in Pakistan, and we can all come together. Because it all started at The Mount, and that’s what’s wonderful here. They say we create founders here, and the sisterhood is just so strong here. I came in as a freshman not knowing anyone and I’ve transformed. I think it goes to show that at The Mount it doesn’t matter who you are, we all come together. We all grow into leaders and founders.”
With this determination and drive, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see these women accepting their own Nobel Peace Prizes one day in the not so distant future.
Watch the video that started it all:
Watch Malala receiving the 2014 Liberty Medal:
