At Macalester, diversity and inclusion really means making community and making space for people. I think at first, it's very easy to tell that it's a predominantly white school because it is. But I think once you start getting involved with student orgs on campus, you start to see the diversity a lot better. Because students create those spaces for themselves. There's so many organizations on campus where you get to be yourself and not have to worry about it. As an international student.
I thought Macalester was this college in Minnesota and maybe wasn't super diverse. But actually, the school has done such a good job at bringing a lot of diversity into campus. We have the Department of multicultural life, which does their best to make space for first-gen, queer and BIPOC students. Part of my job is that I'm a mentor, for mosaic, which is a program for first-year students where they can kind of get insight from other people who share their identities. It's really helpful to kind of get like that one on one time with someone who's been through it already.
And it can give you the support and the advice that you need. It's one thing to say that a school or an environment is diverse and promotes multiculturalism, but it's another thing to live up to it. They encourage people to learn a new language. They encourage people to study away and do all these things that pushes people out of their comfort zone. I think in learning all those things, and being constantly pushed to learn more and learn different things. We all become better learners and become like better citizens.
Of course, at first, it's a bit hard to get out of your comfort zone and reach out to people who may be may have a different lifestyle than you have. But it's essentially to feel like you belong to a place, and that's part of the process that I did to make sure I could call this place home.
