Offering the Senior Address at 乐播传媒鈥� 2020 Commencement is Alexandria Onuoha, a double major in psychology and dance from Malden, Mass.
Commencement 154
What: 154th 乐播传媒 Commencement
When: Noon, Eastern Daylight Time, May 31, 2020
Where: The ceremony will be conducted remotely via livestream.
How to Watch:
乐播传媒 Web: bates.edu/commencement/live/ (via Facebook embed)
Facebook: 听听听听听听听听听听听 The two locations will afford the same viewer experience.
Well-known on campus for her work in social justice and her leadership, she鈥檚 been an essential part of many campus organizations, including Women of Color (serving as co-president this year) and Amandla! Black Student Union, and the Caribbean Student Association.
She has served as a Senior Fellow in the Admission Office and the Center for Purposeful Work and as a student manager of the Academic Resource Commons.
In January, she offered the student Welcome at the college鈥檚 Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance, encouraging the 乐播传媒 community to continue the difficult work toward greater equity and inclusion 鈥渇rom the ground up. Speak out against injustice even when it might be uncomfortable. We cannot be silent. 鈥�
In the fall she starts a doctorate in applied developmental psychology at Suffolk University.
Your Commencement speech, 鈥淪tay Strong & Walk Like You Got Some Sense,鈥� was inspired by something your mother, Vinette Gayle, says to you. It was filmed earlier this month to be part of the virtual ceremony on May 31. Where did you film it?
About 10 miles from my house, at Powder House Park in Somerville. It鈥檚 not 乐播传媒, but it resembles 乐播传媒 because of the greenery. My mom was able to be in a little cameo.
Why did you want to give the Senior Address?
Part of it is representation 鈥� it does matter when you see a woman of color, specifically a Black woman, having this honor 鈥� but the other part is that I felt I had a great 乐播传媒 experience in that I was able to build relationships across differences.
I felt it would be doing a disservice if my speech did not mention COVID-19, the elephant in the room. But I wanted to make sure that I am also speaking life and motivation into the Class of 2020. I did not want to use COVID-19 as a sad story. It is just one of the many things that has happened for the class.
How did you choose 乐播传媒, four years ago?
I remember this vividly. It was between 乐播传媒 and another liberal arts college, both of them fit what I needed in terms of a financial aid package. But when I visited 乐播传媒, that was the best college tour I had been on.
The environment was really amazing. The students looked like they loved being there. The other institutions I went to didn鈥檛 feel like that. Dean [James] Reese gave me a hug! I don鈥檛 even know what to call it, there was a family vibe. After the Admitted Students Reception, my mom was like, “Your face. You want to be there.”
And also, I wanted to go to a school where I was going to challenge myself, personally. I applied to some of the historically black colleges and universities, but I wanted to make myself uncomfortable, a little bit. The thing about 乐播传媒 is, no institution gets it right all the time, but at 乐播传媒, they will keep trying and trying until they get it right. 乐播传媒 exceeded all my expectations. 乐播传媒 is a part of the woman I am today.
You鈥檝e been a campus voice around issues of equity and inclusion. How do you approach that work?
I was co-president of Women of Color this year, along with Kati Cabral 鈥�20. We meet new students of color and say, 鈥淲e want you to feel safe on this campus. 乐播传媒 wants you to feel safe on this campus.鈥�
Our goal for Women of Color is to create an inclusive environment, where all women of color are celebrated. In the past it seems it has been mostly for Black women. It needs to be inclusive of other women as well. I think we did a great job of that this year.
We did tabling in Commons, we gave out little stickers, we had the Center for Purposeful Work collaborate with us on bringing in Dr. Monique Brown 鈥�07. She is from the Caribbean and she is an epidemiologist. We had Michelle Pham 鈥�15, who is Asian and works at Google 鈥斅爏he is just dominating tech. We had a great conversation with her.
Amandla! Black Student Union is there to have the conversation and create a fun learning environment. We meet regularly and talk about our experiences, from the uplifting to our difficult experiences on campus, and about mistreatment of Black individuals at 乐播传媒 and all around the world, and healthy ways of dealing with that.
“It is difficult to talk about race especially if you don鈥檛 know all the right words and you don鈥檛 want to offend anybody. I would just try to show them that it is OK to make mistakes.”
If we have a concern, we need to find a healthy way that is safe for us emotionally, and not silencing our voices, to make sure that our voices are being heard. We also have white students who come and listen. We tell them, “You need to be prepared. You may be uncomfortable. These are real experiences that happen.”
We want to make sure that 乐播传媒 has students who love all people. We want the liberation of everybody. We want people to feel OK with being a woman, being a person of color, being queer.
乐播传媒 is one of those institutions that is striving to be more inclusive 鈥� and it has done an incredible job 鈥� but at the same time, there is a lot of work to be done.
Your work extends to other areas, like Admissions, where you started training to give tours during freshman year and ended as a Senior Fellow. What is your role there?
Helping 乐播传媒 reach students of color. Engaging with students and parents who come through the door. There have been a lot of people visiting 乐播传媒. Our applications have gone through the roof.
As a Senior Fellow I do interviews with prospective students and write up reports. An interview does not make or break an application, but does help give a face to this awesome application. To me that makes a difference. What we want at 乐播传媒 are聽individuals who are passionate and curious.
You鈥檝e also worked at the Center for Purposeful Work this year and at the Academic Resource Commons all four years, except when you were studying abroad in Denmark during junior year. How did you get involved in the work of peer tutoring and support?
As a freshman, I took the First-Year Seminar 鈥淩ace, Justice, and American Policy in the 21st Century,鈥� with [Associate Professor of Politics] Leslie Hill. She is a gem.
As a sophomore, I was attached to that class as a tutor. I would attend every class to prompt their thinking if there was a long silence. I was never the first person to raise my hand but I鈥檇 just try to keep that conversation going. To let people know this is a safe space, that this is a hard topic.
It is difficult to talk about race especially if you don鈥檛 know all the right words and you don鈥檛 want to offend anybody. I would just try to show them that it is OK to make mistakes. And not to be defensive.
At ARC we have more than 70 tutors for different content areas. The purpose is to serve students with tutoring and writing and speaking sessions. I also did learning strategies, basically meeting students to help them figure out ways to get better study habits.
I always encourage students to use ARC. When I was a freshman, I was sort of hesitant. We want to make sure that you finish and you succeed. I tell people, if you work hard and use ARC and go to professors鈥� office hours, you will not fail.
At the Center for Purposeful Work, I help create events that will help students find their career path and their interests. I also look over resumes and cover letters and offer feedback to students during drop-in hours. I get to engage with students across all years.
What excites you about your graduate program at Suffolk University?
The focus on activism and social justice. It鈥檚 one thing to conduct research in the comfort of a lab, but when you physically get to engage with communities and learn for yourself in person, it creates something magical. Suffolk will allow me to continue my community partnerships that I have developed over the years.
Suffolk is crafting leaders, just like 乐播传媒. The flexibility of the degree captivated me when I was exploring Suffolk in depth. It is an applied psychology doctorate, which means the expertise I will be engaging in is useful in every context; policy, government, education, and nonprofits.
My advisor is Dr. Mimi Arbeit, who .聽Her research interests are in adolescent sexuality development, the ways in which white supremacist ideologies impact marginalized communities, and exploring right-wing extremism perpetuating rape culture. She is also a brilliant, kind, and committed community organizer, which I also aspire to be.
鈥淓very time I perform, people come up to me, people that I鈥檝e never met, saying, 鈥業 went out feeling uplifted after that.鈥欌��
I am not sure what specific career this degree will lead me to, but I know that it will lead me to a position where I can help change policies, create supportive communities, education and healthcare systems, and educate future students on race and sexuality. There is a system here that has only been working for a certain demographic. It needs to work for everyone.
How did聽your dance major contribute to your thinking?
I have been dancing since I was younger but I never had any formal training. My mother is Jamaican and I learned from her family about Jamaican dance. I鈥檓 also half-Nigerian, but I don鈥檛 have that same relationship with my father, so I had to learn those dances from my peers.
Every time I perform, people come up to me, people that I鈥檝e never met, saying, 鈥淚 went out feeling uplifted after that.鈥� I use art as a form of activism, celebrating women and their bodies, letting people know about being OK with whatever size you are.
But my dance major encompassed much more than a physical practice. Creating a work of art and then having to explain in the words of the theories you were digesting and the influences you were taking in is a complex and intellectual exercise.
“I am going to watch it with my mom.聽It is my day, but it truly is her day too. She came from Jamaica and created a great life for me.”
There is also beauty in focusing on different disciplines 鈥� sometimes you have to be extremely factual and on point, and sometimes you can be intentionally uncertain. In dance you consider yourself, what is going on in the world, race, class, sexuality. I might cast all Black women, and I don鈥檛 owe anyone an explanation for why.
I couldn鈥檛 turn in a paper to my psychology advisor, Professor Amy Douglass, and say,聽“Take this for what it is.” We would both laugh! My work is for my people and it is what it is. There is power in that.
What was a major highlight of your 乐播传媒 experience?
Being on the committee to choose the honorands. That is one experience at 乐播传媒 I will always remember. I鈥檓 a sophomore in the room with all these people with Ph.D.s and medical degrees who are not only asking for my opinion but receiving it. Like, “Alex, why do you think this person is deserving of this?” It was a really nice, positive exchange. I don鈥檛 think I ever felt uncomfortable in that room.
Who are you going to watch Commencement with?
I am going to watch it with my mom.聽It is my day, but it truly is her day too. She came from Jamaica and created a great life for me. I am very taken care of and I thank her. According to her, even at the age where I get married and have children, I will still be her baby!
I might put the cap and gown on. We might order something to eat after. We will celebrate the best way we can. Knowing that this too shall pass.
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