UHCL Freshman Experience | The Wingspan

Hey Hawks!

I hope y’all had another greet week at UHCL. Mine was very eventful. I started my new job, hosted a big event, had a ton of important meetings, and went to the Cultural Extravaganza!

My first day as a Student Ambassador for the Office of Student Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion was last Wednesday. I only worked for two hours, hanging up flags in Atrium II in preparation for Cultural Extravaganza. I got a small tour of the office and had some informal introductions, but my official training will happen sometime this upcoming week. I’m really excited to work with the SDEI office. I’m passionate about diversity programming, and I look forward to helping put out some really great events. I especially want to see more LGBTQ+ programming on campus!

On Wednesday, I hosted an event through the Social Justice Organization and alongside Turning Point USA called “Let’s Talk About Guns”. It was a super successful event. We had about 65 people show up! This includes faculty, staff and students. Even the Dean of Students went! Andrea Baldwin, who is amazing, facilitated the discussion really well. Things remained very civil, even though it was a difficult and uncomfortable conversation to have. My favorite part was that at the end of the event, people stayed and continued to have these critical conversations.

I worked as a volunteer for the Cultural Extravaganza this Saturday, which was really fun. I was a theater helper, so I essentially got to see the whole show. It was an amazing event with amazing performances. I convinced my best friend, Madi Coates, to carry the LGBTQ+ flag for the Cultural Walk. She was hesitant at first, but still ended up doing it. It was the first time the LGBTQ+ flag had ever been part of the Cultural Walk, so we didn’t know how the audience would react. It turns out that the audience loved it. They were really supportive, which felt really nice. Both Madi and I got kind of emotional about it.

Until next time, Hawks!

– Natalia