Diversity Post

I recently attended the event hosted by the Multicultural Center through STEM Scholars. This event was focused on learning about and identifying things like identity, privilege, and oppression. This wasn’t the first diversity & inclusion event I have attended during my time on campus. In my major’s survey class, we had the same person come speak to us about the same information. Both of these presentations were very insightful and really got me thinking about the topics we went over. I also attended a First-Year Success Series that focused on diversity & inclusion that covered a lot of the same information as well. All of these events have made me think about a lot of things differently, and I am certainly glad I have had the opportunity to attend all of them.

I will admit that I was a little unsure about what I was getting into before attending these events. I wasn’t sure what kind of information we would go over, if I was informed enough, or if I would understand what we talked about. I think that I felt this way because I had never been to an event like this before, so it was a completely foreign experience for me. Once we got into the talks themselves, I immediately became more comfortable. The people who spoke were both very respectful of the information and clearly knew what they were talking about. Something I really liked was how they talked about the information in a way that everyone could understand. They defined words that most people may not know about and encouraged us to ask questions if anything came up. The talks themselves were also very comfortable. There were opportunities to talk with the people around us, along with the group as a whole. This kind of participation makes the whole experience even more engaging and memorable. People were given the chance to share experiences about the things we were talking about which, again, made it more than just listening to a person ramble for an hour. In short, my worries were for nothing because I found these events extremely insightful. I think that I learned a lot about the world, the people around me, and most importantly myself.

As far as diversity & inclusion goes, I think that OSU is doing a great job at spreading the word. Encouraging things like these workshops show how much the university truly cares about it. Of course, in my opinion, there is never enough when it comes to these kinds of things, so pushing the diversity & inclusion efforts another step further couldn’t hurt! Overall, I think that these events were really beneficial to me. It challenged the way that I think about myself, something that I think is really hard for most people. I will say that the other diversity & inclusion event I attended got a lot deeper into the information than the STEM hosted one did, but they both had a great impact on myself, and I’m sure others around me. I would certainly recommend people to attend at least one of these events throughout their time here at OSU!