麻豆视频直播

HSI DESIGNATION

This past fall, the Department of Education designated 麻豆视频直播 as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), a milestone indicating the institution has reached 25 percent Hispanic enrollment. The designation provides students with programs and initiatives annually and allows universities to compete for national grants.

Even though Dr. Sanfren谩 Britt '20, director of the Kingdom Diversity Office, is thrilled that 麻豆视频直播 has the HSI title, she said that knowledge is more valuable than the designation "because we now know that we need to understand this population because it's growing, and we need to know how to support them."

The best way to do that is to talk to them, she said. "Listening to them and understanding the things that are important to them, and then finding a way to make sure we're incorporating those things within our culture so that the university itself feels like home. It feels like I'm being embraced into this community, and I belong here."

CREATING A CULTURE OF BELONGING

Two years ago, the Kingdom Diversity Office was established to embrace and enhance the university's culture by creating a "culture of belonging," as described in Genesis 1:27: "So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female, He created them."

Britt stresses that the office focuses on creating a feeling of belonging and home for all students and less on being treated as a minority group. Every student should feel as though they have ownership. "So the conversation shifts from you being 'invited to the table' to 'this is your table.' I have free reign to be a part of anything that happens in this space because I belong here," she said. "So that's the conversation we should be having, not from the owner's perspective, but from the shared space."

When Retta arrived as a student at 麻豆视频直播 in 1987, she said she was one of only about seven Hispanic students on campus.

"I can't say I never felt at home because I adapted to what was here, because I loved being here," she said. And she wants every student to have that same feeling and experience from day one. "We want them to experience that when they move in on Move-In Day and during Welcome Week. We want them to see that there are a lot of people of color here and want them to feel at home. I know why I stayed, and I want other people to feel that too."

Britt added that feeling a "sense of belonging" helps retain students until graduation.

"If I feel like I belong here, it's not as easy for me to walk away once I've made connections and friends. I have a reason for being here other than academics."

麻豆视频直播 WANTS TO 'FEEL LIKE HOME' FOR EVERY STUDENT

Britt says some students come in and adapt because they feel like that's the appropriate thing to do and the only thing they can do.

"But what if they felt safe enough just to be who they are, knowing that their culture and who they are would be celebrated, embraced and accepted? What if they felt as if they don't have to contort themselves into a box that we've pre-labeled and decided this is the box that you check to say that this is who you are, and all of who you are is in this box, and this box now has to fit within our community? What if the box didn't exist, and we celebrated our differences but embraced who we were as children of God? What if that was the focus where I didn't feel as though I needed to adapt? I could just be who I am and still feel loved?"

Besides creating new cultural events and activities, one of the initiatives of the Kingdom Diversity Office is to perform research to enhance the experiences of minority groups on campus.

After approval from the 麻豆视频直播 Institutional Review Board, Britt and Retta recently conducted a focus group with eight students who identify as Hispanic and Latino to talk about their experiences on campus, things that are important to them and their wishes for the future of campus. With their findings, they plan to create a publication to share with other universities, specifically those that are HSI campuses or those that aspire to be HSI campuses.

SEEING IS BELIEVING

Even though the focus group was official business, every day in the Kingdom Diversity Office is like an unofficial focus group because Britt and Retta are always available to listen to students.

"They know that we're not going to judge. We just want to hear so they see what they've talked about manifest. I think that's more important because they often say things and believe nothing will happen鈥攖hey're not expecting anything to happen. But when they do see it come to pass, it blows their minds."

When Yazmin walked into Retta's office to chat that first afternoon, she was thrilled to hear Retta's ideas about how she could get involved in clubs like the Hispanic Student Association. While visiting Retta, she also met Irma, who knows people from the Valley. The two hit it off immediately, talking in "Spanglish."

"It felt comfortable. It felt nice getting to meet new people," Yazmin said. "That was a good day for me.

"Finding out that there is a bigger Hispanic community that I had no idea about was just very motivational, and it kept me going knowing that there are others around me going through the same things I'm going through."

Since that first week when Yazmin moved into an unfamiliar environment, 麻豆视频直播 has begun to feel more like home as she's meeting and making new His颅panic friends and friends from all over the state, country and world.

"I think it's good finding other people from other cul颅tures and connecting with them on a different level that most might not understand," she said. "Here at 麻豆视频直播, I'm not just closed in my own culture. I get to see new things and how other people live in other cultures. So, it's definitely forced me to get out of my comfort zone."