By: Jackie Nesbeth and Leah Bayley-Hay
The “Great American College Experience” has been dreamed of, romanticized, and reminisced about for decades. It is said to be the “best years” of your life – the place you go to make your dreams a reality. For a long time, college was an experience only available to wealthy white males but now, university education is open to people of all races, genders, backgrounds, and sexualities.
The Stevenson Villager presents a special issue, “What It Feels Like to be ___ at Stevenson”, which takes an inside look into the experiences of some of our very own Stevenson students.
While trying to find ways to set ourselves apart from the crowd, what makes us different? What makes us special? How are we unique to those around us? But also, what similarities do we share? What connects us? As the communities on campus seem to grow and change every day, the need to acknowledge and accept differences as well as similarities in our students has become apparent.
Questions arise when people of all different interests and backgrounds come together in one community: If you’re gay and a football player are you still seen as a Mustang? Or what are the experiences of African-Americans on campus – is it any different from the experience of Caucasian students? In this special issue, questions like these and more are answered.
Our genders, sexualities, religions, races, physical abilities, etc. define who we are and how others perceive us whether it’s how we want them to or not. When we feel the most alone, there may be someone sharing the same experience. Taking the time to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes for a moment sheds new light on how we can be more welcoming and inclusive to others. With these differing and shared perspectives and experiences, we can open discussions about the way in which we interact with one another.
Thanks to the input of the SU community, we have put together the thoughts, ideas, and experiences of our peers to help to show how diverse our community really is.
