Situation at home spurs her to excel

“My first experiences with sexism were within my own family.

“I’m the only girl. I have five brothers. I had a Christian upbringing. I’m still a Christian. But my father would use the Bible to kind of diminish my voice. He would say, ‘In the Bible it says that women need to be silent.’ Like the woman is the more fragile being. So always kind of ingraining in me that submission in women and the dominance of man.

“Growing up, I also saw domestic violence at home. At an early age, I had to stand up to my dad and really say, ‘What you’re doing isn’t right. I don’t agree with it.’ I think that’s where our relationship stunted.

“As a 9-year-old kind of living in fear of your own father, it hits you hard. But I think it’s when I realized that I didn’t want to see my mom get hurt. So I couldn’t be quiet about it. This isn’t to say that I don’t love my father. I just think that for many years, I did resent him.

“The steps I took in my life to really excel in school and find opportunities for myself came from thinking about the life that we had with my dad. I didn’t want that life for my mom. I didn’t want my little brothers to think that was a normal way to treat women.

“I was always a curious kid. But when I started seeing those things at home, I really started to dive into school. That was my one safe space. That was where I could really prove that I was capable. That I am worthy of having my ideas heard. That I have a lot to offer.

“When I got a full academic and merit-leadership scholarship to college, my dad never said congratulations or anything. I think deep down, there was still that part of me that wanted to prove myself to him. That those things you said about my mom, or about me, or about women in general, they’re not true. Because look at what I’m doing. Look at the things I’m accomplishing.

“I think I did hold it against him, the way he saw me as the weaker one, the one that needed to be quiet, and not to take up too much space. And I was showing him, well, I’m going to do the opposite of that. I’m going to take up as much space as I need.”

— Azalia Sprecher

Azalia was in the first graduating class at IMPACT Early College High School, earning her high school diploma and associate’s degree from Lee College. She received a full scholarship from the Posse Foundation to attend Bryn Mawr College in suburban Philadelphia, and graduated in 2018. She is now a paralegal, and hopes to attend law school.