Cross Border Internship at Western Michigan University Blog Part 2
What happens when the novelty wears off? I find myself actively looking for diversity on campus now that the similarities between UofT and WMU have been acknowledged and more and more differences have begun to appear. Being in the minority group is a new experience and a set of emotions I have not felt before. Although I come from a racialized group, growing up in the GTA, I was surrounded by diversity – here at WMU and Western Michigan, I am one of the few people who add diversity. During orientation days, I found more students from foster care, first-generation, and veteran backgrounds than students who looked like me. The revelation I had the last few weeks was thinking about how I can find belonging here long-term if I could not see my Asian reflection in the people, food, music, student clubs, programs and offices on campus. Of course, summertime at many universities is quiet and isolated so I recognized my yearning for racial and cultural connections is more difficult this time of the year.
However, if I were to analyze these thoughts and emotions, my experience is not unheard of. I have been witnessing student development theory in action using myself as an example. I am reminded of the student development theories class I took with Prof. Stephanie Waterman (LHA1854) exploring the experiences of various racialized student groups. Similar to the stories read in class and (cite) stages of Racial and Cultural Identity Development, I too was looking for likeness, common interest and shared cultural experiences with members on campus. Initially, many of these experiences were to conform with the American college experience, and follow the norms and traditions of the dominant groups and cultures present on campus. After a while, the dissonance begins to set in. Fast forward to more recent days, I actively searched for activities and initiatives on and off campus to fill my cultural void. It turns out WMU and Kalamazoo have a large offering of academic courses, resources, activities, community outreach and dining options.
I hope that through my eyes, instructors and students affairs professionals will consider the transient experiences of students from different racialized, cultural, and social backgrounds particularly freshmen in their first semester and first year. I was taken by surprise that it has taken halfway through a semester to be able to point my finger at what could be challenging my feeling of belonging and long-term success in this environment. Freshman students may not have the awareness and experience I have to identify the root issue and they may be inundated with additional stresses of the first-year transition. I empathize with these students and I hope my peers and colleagues do too!
Bio: Susan He is a doctoral candidate in higher education. She is currently an intern at Western Michigan University through LHA1858H hosted by Dr. David Kim and Dr. Ramona Lewis (WMU). Feel free to reach out or suggest topics you want to hear from Susan in future blog updates via email at s.he@utoronto.ca.
