NATCA Scholarship Winner Diana Boland Essay: “Strength in Numbers” 

Every year, NATCA offers a scholarship program for spouses, children, stepchildren, and legally adopted children of active, retired, and deceased members in good standing for at least two consecutive years. Unions empower people to advocate for better working conditions and policies on local, state and national levels, working to achieve a brighter future for everyone. For 2022, students were asked to write in response to the prompt: “What is the difference between a group of people advocating for a cause versus one person speaking up for something they feel strongly about?” 

Diana Boland, child of Kansas City Center (ZKC) member Tucker Boland, is among the 2022 winners of the NATCA scholarship. Read the essay Diana submitted below.  

As an individual in a workplace, it can be terrifying when you finally decide to stand up for what you believe is right. After seeing an alarming issue slowly arise, grow, and imbed itself into the workforce for some time, it can create an environment that is in need of change. Being the first to bring attention to a workplace struggle takes an enormous amount of bravery; although they are coming from a place of great passion, dealing with backlash and/or rejection can derail your efforts before they even begin. Once a workplace struggle is deemed necessary for action, and you begin to gain traction in the efforts to resolve the issue, fellow workers will begin to unite in the effort to right the wrong environment. When enough people unite for the same cause, this allows there to be strength in numbers to make a change. Decisions are often made when a group of people collectively agree a change is needed to better an otherwise daunting situation. When a group of decision makers is large, it becomes a driving force for change for good. Many changes are able to be made easily after an individual has collected enough people that believe in the same cause. People coming together for a bigger cause is inspiring for others to do the same if their situation is similar. Groups that make change bring confidence for other individuals in similar situations that they too can speak up for their negative environment. An individual who decides to act for change, gathers multiple people willing to fight for the same cause, and who leads that group of people into action is an inspirational leader. There is little difference between a group of people advocating for one cause and a person speaking up for something they feel strongly about. An individual who sees that an action is needed will unite others who believe that change is also needed, and together they can enact change.