![Assistant Athletic Director of Academic Retention & Services Jill Gerloff delivers the opening speech at her final NGWSD dinner before her retirement. “I love all of my athletes and my women's teams always show up for me, and I want to make sure that I can do something to show up for them,” Gerloff said. [File photo]](https://therambler.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/OpeningSpeaker_Gerloff-1200x800.jpg)
The International Women’s Day event brought students, faculty and staff together in the Martin University Center ballroom on March 4 to celebrate women’s leadership.
The program, sponsored by Connect Campus Ministry and Student Affairs, featured student performers, traditional Burundi dancers, and a keynote speaker to highlight leadership present in everyday acts of service within families and communities.
Keynote speaker Symone Dixon, program & community engagement manager for Leadership Fort Worth, inspired her audience to think about servant leadership not as a formal definition, but as something demonstrated through everyday actions.
“Servant leadership is a lived experience,” Dixon said. “When I tried to define it, faces started popping into my mind—people who show up again and again because they want to help their community.”
Dixon said when thinking of servant leaders, she first pictured idols such as Harriet Tubman and Maya Angelou. She then challenged the audience to share their examples of servant leadership.
“When people were giving examples, you didn’t hear titles,” Dixon told the audience. “You heard relationships.”
The event was the brainchild of junior biochemistry major Aline Uwingabire, who said that her purpose for the event was to create a space that celebrated the voices and strengths of women.
“I wanted women to accept that they matter and that their voices matter,” Uwingabire said. “Most of the time women try to prove themselves, but I want them to believe they are strong enough to make decisions and make things happen.”
Following the keynote speech, sophomore education major Natalia Martinez passionately awoke the strings of her violin, bringing art and music into the event. She shared the stage with junior education major, Rosario Garcia, whose xylophone performance carried personal meaning.
“It was really an honor to play here,” Garcia said. “You don’t see a lot of women percussionists, so it was nice to be a voice for women percussionists.”
A Burundian dance performance also brought cultural representation to the event. Francine Niyukuri, a 16-year-old performer whose family is from Burundi, said dancing is an important part of celebrating her heritage.
“In our culture, at events like weddings or celebrations, we usually have dancers,” Niyukuri said. “This dancing is part of our culture.”
Students in attendance felt the welcoming and empowering atmosphere.
“It was very nice, very refreshing,” said sophomore musical theatre major Lauren Hunt. “All the women in the room loved it.”
The fusion of dance, music, and powerful speech featured at the International Women’s Day event highlighted the power of women in community. As Dixon emphasized, the impact of leadership often lies not in the titles, but in how people make others feel.
“The way we serve others will be remembered long after any words are forgotten,” Dixon said. “I want [women] to carry servant leadership as something that they do over and over again; it doesn’t matter if you’re helping out one person or a whole family, just as long as you’re giving something that’s bigger than yourself.”
