This is Elisa D’Egidio…I met her, her freshman year, my junior year…I could tell, within mintures of meeting her, the powerful presence she brings everywhere she goes. She is not only extremely intelligent and worldly, she has wit and fire that rivials few. She is the girl that I hope others look up to, for she is kind and generous beyond belief. Elisa studies at the Capitol Building, makes cupcakes for holidays for every…single…person in Opus (300 to be exact). She always puts herself before others and is always fighting for what she believes is right. That is why she founded, “She’s the First,” here at CUA. Check out who, what, where, when & why!
Name: Elisa D’Egidio
Year: 2019
Major: Politics
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Her Campus: What is the name of the new club that you started?
Elisa: She’s the First
HC: Why did you start the club?
E: Last Semester Cara Duffy, Abby Fitzgerald, and I began to talk about the need for women oriented organizations on campus at CUA and then in midst of conversation discovered our individual ties to She’s the First and how incredible the not-for-profit is. This lead to some team work and proposal writing to the university to make our passions for global integration, education and women’s rights come alive on campus.
HC: What does this club mean to not only you but the women of CUA?
E: The club provides scholarships for girls to be the first in their families to graduate from high school. This organization has the ability to liberate girls into the education system around the world, in doing so this provides young women here at CUA to have a re-found appreciation for the rights we have as American women today being able to attend a university. In the midst of a global cry for the advancement of women, this is a path to parallel the strides we have made here in the US while promoting women unity here on campus by joining together to fundraise for the young women whose shoes we have just been in, before coming to CUA. This is the behavior to belief of women’s equality. This is putting to practice the principal we hold dear of education, women’s empowerment and global unity.
HC: What do you hope to accomplish during your time at CUA, particularly with this club?
E: I hope I am enabler for good in my environment here at CUA. I hope that over the course of my 4 years, 3,000miles away my sunny home that I am participant in all the change the is being made in our nation’s capital. Particularly within STF, I hope this is an example of taking the enthusiasm of the women’s march and creating a sizeable difference in communities around the world that desperately need the gap between men and women to close.
HC: Why are you so passionate about this club?
E: Dresses can rip. Houses can burn down. Businesses can go bankrupt. Riches we long for so often are so easily lost. There are few things are permeant and irreplaceable- one of which is our education. This gives us the power to understand, to grow and to impact the lives of others. One girl has the power to break the cycle of poverty, therefore She’s the first changes entire communities. I am passionate about this because I get to join thousands of young women at high schools and colleges herw in the US, team up with their schools in order to provide a pathway to education for girls in communities all around the world.
HC: What does this club mean to you specifically?
E: I have been with the organization since 2012 when I founded a chapter at my high school back in Los Angeles, CA. This club has provided a deep sense of gratitude for my ability to be educated and to be a woman in the world today.