Zoya Azhar ‘20
Assistant Opinions Editor
Last year President McCartney introduced the Innovation Challenge for Advancing Inclusion, Diversity and Equity. It was a new funding opportunity to support ventures which strengthen the Smith community. The Diverse Smithies Series was the proposed project of the Office of Alumnae Relations and started last week.
The series of workshops and retreats is focused on bringing Smithies of color together with Alumnae of color, giving them a chance to make connections and learn from the alumnae. The tail end of the series leads into the Smith Women of Color conference which will take place in April. The 20 Smithies accepted to participate in the Diverse Smithies series will also take part in the Women of Color conference.
The first retreat was held this past week and started off with a workshop titled “Authenticity, Activism and Community Connections.” The Alumnae facilitators were Monique Chavoya ’02, Liliana Hernandez ’02 and Amanda Keammerer ’09. All three of these individuals came from very different walks of life, with varying Smith experiences and very different paths to the jobs they are currently working. They proceeded to unite their diverse experiences in reaching out to the room full of current Smithies.
Amanda talked to us about the importance of being authentic individuals and how to make sure we are all aware of our own brands, our varying paths and most importantly, recognizing that we have power; it is only a matter of owning up to it.
The workshop’s impact was particularly palpable when each presenter shared uncomfortable details about their lives, things that initially may have kept them up at night but eventually just became a motivation to keep going. Whether it was poor academic performance or struggling with the social systems at Smith, all three women stressed how they doubted themselves and their being at Smith. And yet they all bounced back and were proud to come back and present at their alma mater.
I felt everyone in the room appreciated this honesty. It is not always productive to present college students with individuals who did everything right after college and landed the life of their dreams: More often than not, this is not how most post-graduate lives play out.
Monique made an important point about acknowledging that there are rules that we all have to play by in the real world, in whatever career we choose for ourselves. She also made it a point to mention that it isn’t necessary to rebuild or mold oneself in order to play by these rules. Sometimes it pays off just to be persistent.
The event also involved a lot of sharing with our Smithie peers and talking about how each of our communities shaped us and whether we keep in touch with our past, our roots and our communities. The event facilitated conversations about the realities each of us face and helped us get to know each other better.
The event could have been more successful if some form of a Q&A session had been held at the end of the workshop. It could have helped to zero in on issues or concerns that may have come up for students, while hearing the stories being shared by the alumnae.
The next retreat will take place in November and focus on addressing micro-aggressions and implicit bias in professional spaces, among other things.
