“In terms of my story, I’ll tell you about how I found my niche here on campus. So I didn’t have a good freshman year, my freshman year was pretty rough, even from the first day, I didn’t like my roommate, didn’t like my neighbors, and I spent the first month on campus going to different orgs and meetings and events and stuff…trying to find somewhere where I felt like I belonged. I wasn’t finding it——sure, there were spaces where I would keep going to but I just didn’t feel that connection, that you would like to feel when you are moving to somewhere new. So, you know it was hard for me in navigating that, but I think the one crutch I found along the way was….you know, my first week on campus I went to this one event on campus called CelebrAsian, it’s now known as APIDA Student Welcome, but I met this guy there named Jack, he got my email somehow, I don’t even remember how, but he got my email and every once in a blue moon this guy would email me and be like, ‘Oh hey, Ridhwan, would you like to meetup?’ and I was like, who even are you? And I would be like, okay. It seemed like he works at OSU and I was like, I’ll go work with him…and I found out that he was the intercultural specialist for Asian American students here on campus in the MCC, so I meet with him every once in a while, and he would tell me to go to this event, go to that event, do this thing, do that thing…and you know, through that journey I started meeting certain interesting people where I was like, you know what? I want to get to know this person better. And then, second semester came along, still having the same issues I had the first semester. Jack pulled me into his office and told me, you are gonna sign up for this program called APIDA cohort, and be a mentor and I was like okay, I don’t know what this is but sure, I’ll do it. And so I signed up for it, summer went by, I came back on campus, and I started getting involved in that organization and I started to be like, oh you know this is actually kind of cool. These Asian American orgs kind of make me feel at home. This is a part of my identity that I have never explored in my life, and you know for once I’m finding people that are embracing that part of me. I got involved there, and I got involved in Triple A, Asian American Association shortly afterwards and I just kind of feel like, through that little entryway that Jack opened up for me, all of a sudden I’m finding all these experiences and connections and people that were starting to appreciate me for the individual that I was, a part of myself that I had closed off for so long, I really felt empowered by that and I felt a new part of my identity had come to life. I felt more comfortable to express myself. I became more extroverted and outgoing. And you know, eventually I felt empowered enough to be put in a position to help run and facilitate now APIDA cohort’s meetings and events and now I’m in a position where I’m president of the Asian American Association while I’m channeling a lot of my passions for social justice and finding justice here on campus and be on into empowering our community of Asian Americans to invest in that kind of work. So, that’s my story on how I found my place on campus.”
Ridwhan Sedique