For the diversity event I decided to attend the Diversity and Inclusion seminar on Nov. 13. This event was help in the Journalism building and about 50 people appeared to be there. When I found out that I had to go to this event I was unsure of how I would find a diversity event. didn’t know that there would be events all the time. During the event we were taught about our identities and what privileges that affords us. We were also taught about the difference between prejudice, discrimination and oppression. Most of what was taught I already knew. This seminar had some intro information about diversity and how our identities can affect us. Diversity is something that constantly affect everyone, especially STEM. Having people with different experiences is important to developing a more effective team. Diversity can also impact how people interact with each other. So far there hasn’t been too much focus on having diversity. It gets mentioned from time to time but it isn’t enough to become inconvenient or annoying. During the presentation i’m sure that someone was afraid to voice their actual opinions. This topic is very controversial and it didn’t seem like anybody disagreed with what the presenter was saying. During the presentation the title slide read “Who Am I? Who Are You? Who Are We?”. This title overviews the presentation and what we are going to be learning. We then acknowledged the land that we were having this meeting on as land that was used by indigenous peoples for meetings and exchanges. We did this out of respect for indigenous peoples. After that we went over some identities that we may apply to ourselves. Then we talked about how our identities may affect our lives. We then went over some privileges that we may have based on who we were born to be.I think that this presenter did a good job of presenting this seminar. She seemed very passionate about the subject. She also did a good job of making sure that everyone knew that nobody should feel bad about any privileges that they may have. This is important because nobody should feel bad about who the are, the same way that nobody should be discriminated against for who they were born as. The presenter had us split into small groups and discuss any questions she asked. This let us compare our experiences and discuss any opinions that we may have without sharing it with the entire class. This makes it easier to be honest about what we actually believe. Overall this event was helpful to review information that I have seen before. It also reminds me to be considerate of other people and their experiences. This is important because I don’t want to offend anybody accidentally by saying something that could be insensitive to other people. Not offending people is important to getting along with people in the workforce and making friends. I am glad that I attended this seminar even though it was mostly a refresher.
This is a picture of the title slide taken by me.