Why did you apply for the role?

I’ve often found it befalls a person of colour to be the representative of their entire people in both macro and micro social situations; while I have my reservations regarding this, I refuse to back down from standing up and showing up for people of colour in all environments, defending, protecting and celebrating their rights to subsist in whatever way they choose.

What will you be working on?

 As Student of Colour of LDC, I have 3 main objectives:

To support and validate other students of colour in day to day decisions and choices in environments they may second-guess themselves

To make the stories and struggles of students of colour visible through every effort; especially through the promotion and inclusion of prose and poetry produced by POC both in the curriculum and at events

To vouch for students of colour as a spearhead leader and badge bearer

I plan to be a face that can be turned to when students of colour feel immobile by inaction, or tacitly complicit in subtle discrimination in their classrooms. I want to embody mediation in my classrooms; be a friend who can give honest support and steady students in times of identity crises. Having the presence of a Student of Colour Ambassador in a classroom will not only make the other students of colour feel like they’ve got somebody in their corner, but also make other students wary of their actions thoughts and approaches to subjects concerning POC experiences and also impact how they interact with their POC peers. In my experience students of colour are often simply operating in the background, almost invisible; and as a student of colour ambassador I will initiate and direct conversations that makes them visible and valid.

What are you looking forward to over the year?

I look forward to addressing specific, actionable issues that Students of Colour face on a day to day basis in order to chip away at a wider system that can grow around them to accommodate them. I want to dismantle the system from within by using my voice and my platform to not only raise awareness about injustice but to take the people affected through the right channels to the establishments in power.