Center Spotlight: Raven Jordan

FSU student, Raven Jordan

Raven Jordan

Age: 21

Hometown: Trenton, FL

Year: Senior

Major: Elementary Education

Acceptance of others, acceptance of thyself. 

That’s what involvement with the Center for Leadership & Social Change has helped senior Raven Jordan achieve.

The senior from Trenton, Florida has been a 2016 LeaderShape participant, a student planning committee member for the Women’s Leadership Institute and is the vice president/ service chair for PeaceJam.

“My heart and soul lies with PeaceJam,” Jordan said. 

PeaceJam is an international education program that works personally with youth to pass on valuable lessons and skills to inspire a new generation of leaders who will transform themselves, their local communities and the world. The Center for Leadership & Social Change serves as the home for the Southeast region. 

With three years of experience in the program, Jordan has been a mentor, facilitating student activity at PeaceJam conferences, and now serves as a coach for the program’s curriculum in local elementary schools. 

Jordan also credits PeaceJam for much of her own growth. 

“I learned a lot about acceptance and diversity through PeaceJam,” she said, noting that before she came to Florida State, she did not have any friends from the LGBTQ+ community. 

But over the years, Jordan said, “I became more ‘woke’ about cultural and societal problems going on in the United States and around the world. I feel like before, I was naïve to things going on, and PeaceJam taught me to not just be at a standstill.”

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The Women’s Leadership Institute has also had a major impact on Jordan, helping her find her passion for women’s empowerment. The Women’s Leadership Institute seeks to increase participants’ awareness of personal abilities and emotions through healthy self-esteem and authenticity.

“I learned about the uniqueness that comes with being a woman and how I can empower myself,” Jordan said. “Then as a committee member, I learned how I could empower other women leaders.”

Beyond the center, Jordan is active in other organizations on campus. She is on the recognition committee for the Student Organization Advisory and Resource Board (SOAR Board), where she talks with students who are looking to start a new organization and guides them on what they need to do. She is also a member of Alpha Gamma Delta.

After graduating, Jordan plans to move to Philadelphia to teach at an inner city school for two years through Teach for America.