Leadership lived: Recent UIS graduate helps lead women’s empowerment event for middle school girls

Heba Qazi says it’s important for young women to feel empowered and know what they can accomplish with a college education.

Qazi, who graduated from the University of Illinois Springfield on May 11 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, recently helped to organize “The Future is Female” event on campus. As a member of the Tri Sigma Sorority, she worked with Springfield District 186 to bring hundreds of girls to campus for a day of empowerment.

“I think it's really important to teach women when they're younger about the importance of college and what they can do throughout high school to ensure that they have a really successful future and I think that starts with women empowering other women,” she said.

Preparing for the event was a major task, as members of the sorority spent the academic year raising funds and creating community partnerships to support the event.

“We've fundraised a couple of thousand dollars,” she said. “It involved a lot of coordination with the middle schools, getting every middle school to come in and contribute to it.”

On campus, Qazi served as treasurer for the Student Government Association, vice chair for the Student Organization Funding Association (SOFA) and as a research assistant for the Department of Accountancy.

“I decided to come to UIS because I felt like there was a lot of room for opportunity and growth,” she said. “I felt that I could develop really good relationships with faculty and I have here at UIS.”

Now that she’s earned her UIS degree, the Bartlett, Illinois native plans to attend law school.

“I am very glad that I came to UIS,” she said. “I feel like I have been awarded a lot of opportunities that would not be possible anywhere else. I think that I've been able to leave a mark in some way and I feel like that's very important.”