Words of Hope Help Another WLP Fall Symposium Soar

But Walls explained how she came to face her fears and embrace the family dysfunction from which she tried so
hard to hide, becoming a stronger and more self-aware person as a result. Her father’s promise that the family would
one day live in a “big glass castle” never materialized, and his Christmas “present” of the planet Venus to her as a
child may have been empty on one level. But she came to regard both as irreplaceable gifts.
“It was a priceless treasure,” she said of her father’s planetary present in a family that had precious little money and
was constantly on the run. “It is whatever we choose to make it. You can say that about so many things in life. I think
you can say that about the glass castle.”
“Dad never did build us a big ol’ fancy mansion,” Walls continued. “But I believe – I choose to believe, because it is a
choice – that he gave us something much more valuable than a fancy mansion to live in. And that was hope … the
belief that I deserved something more than what I had. And I believe that’s what this afternoon is about. It’s not
just giving these young women scholarships – it’s giving them hope.”
Then there was Zamani, who never lost it – in
spite of dealing with considerable self-doubt, fear
of failure and an unplanned disruption in her
education.
WLP Endowed Scholar Shari Zamani providing her inspiring testimonial.
As it turned out, she needed no help overcoming
her jitters to deliver a heartfelt and inspiring talk.
Speaking with poise and power, the public health
major wasted no time commanding the room by
revealing not only that she was the first woman in
her family to attend college but had never actually
graduated from high school. She went on to
describe how she had struggled with academics and
how one day as a junior she left class to get some
water. “And I just kept walking. I left school … and
never went back.”
She worked for three years, waiting tables, bartending and earning her cosmetology license, yet always felt that
there was something else in store for her. Overcoming a fear of failure, Zamani got enough courage to apply
to Hillsborough Community College. She heard that the school offered an assessment test that would allow her
admission to college, without a diploma or taking the GED. She passed and suddenly a new world opened up for her
– with the realization that she enjoyed and excelled at math, and that many of her past academic problems were due to
dyslexia.
Zamani went on to graduate from HCC with the top GPA
and as class Valedictorian, and had no doubt that she would
continue her education at USF as a junior transfer. “I chose
USF because of the quality and variety of its academic
programs, the diversity of the student body and, in all honesty,
because the president of the university was a she.” Cheers and
laughter erupted as Zamani gestured to a beaming President
Genshaft and continued to hold the audience’s rapt attention.
Revealing she is on track to graduate in December with a 4.0
GPA, Zamani expressed gratitude for all of the scholarship support she has received from USF and WLP and once
again addressed the President.