The Office of Student Diversity will be hosting a trip to Washington, D.C. on Saturday, March 31. All students, faculty and staff are open to attend.
Stephanie Reed, director of Student Diversity, is in charge of planning and executing the free trip, excluding meals.
“My goal for this trip is to give students two sorts of varying things to do,“ Reed said. “Last semester, we celebrated and recognized that our national capital now has a memorial for Dr. Martin Luther King. The day it opened was move-in day of last semester.”
Reed said that there was a ceremony held honoring the statue’s inception and that, because of Hurricane Irene, the Office of Student Diversity wasn’t able to sponsor a trip down to see the proceedings. Instead, during one of the bi-monthly meetings of Donuts and Diversity, Reed showed the students a video of the ceremony, which sparked in them an interest to see it later this school year.
After doing more research about Washington, D.C., Reed decided that an additional trip to the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution would make the trip to the area even more fulfilling. Reed said that the museum offers everything from pop culture to the more traditional American history, with “something there for everyone.”
“I think it’ll be a really fun opportunity for us to go somewhere away from campus,” Reed said. “Students and staff will be able to get to know each other in a laid-back environment, but still get a little bit of learning in.”
Reed also said that the newness of her role as director of student diversity means that much more is in the works for the Office of Student Diversity. As for the rest of the semester, however, the remaining student diversity events will take place over the next few weeks.
“This trip to D.C. is a way to end our semester, because when we come back, it’ll already be Easter break,” Reed said.
“The largest goal for my office as far as next year goes is to create a sort of mentoring program for minority students,” Reed said. “And I would like to create something called a diversity leader’s program, which would mirror the student ambassador program on campus. I would like to have a group of students who are trained to give diversity lessons and in facilitating the right language to be more inclusive as a campus.”
