Jasmine Burrell OU Black Royalty Pageant

Hello all,

My name is Jasmine Burrell and I am a senior majoring in Chemical Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. This February I have the opportunity to compete in the Black Royalty Pageant formally known as Mister and Miss Black OU. With this platform, I will have the opportunity to serve as a representative for the Black students on our campus while promoting my personal pageant platform, Take Up Space.

Take Up Space is an initiative that focuses on challenging and empowering students to overcome feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt that are typically associated with Imposter Syndrome. Imposter syndrome has a tendency of attacking and overwhelming many students despite whatever successes they may be achieving and this is especially prevalent in OUr Black community because we attend a predominantly white institution that was not originally designed with students of color in mind. With my platform, I want to equip students with the skills and resources that they need so that they are able to take on bigger roles and positions not just in our community but expanding all the way across campus. Many students often feel discouraged from applying to positions including but not limited to Student Government Association, Homecoming Court, etc. simply due to the fact that we are different than the majority of the student population and this self-doubt and self-perceived fraudulence can continue to hold us back well into our adulthood if we don't confront and overcome it now. This issue is especially important for me as a student that is actively working against feelings of Imposter Syndrome in my own life often not allowing myself to revel in the successes that I have worked hard to achieve but continuously encouraging myself to extend beyond my boundaries. As someone who is soon to enter the workforce I recognize the need for young Black professionals to understand and believe that they deserve to be in spaces of achievement and to be applauded for successes because they've worked hard to be there and quite frankly it doesn't matter what anyone else has to say about it.

With your support, I want to make sure that we, the future of this country, are equipped and ready to take on whatever the world may throw at us without negative intrusive thoughts stopping forward progress. I want to expand the opportunities for students on this campus because as Shirley Chisholm once said, "If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair."