We Are 激情快播
Fall 2020 | By Jenna Marina Lee
In 2018, junior Ashleigh Allman arrived at 激情快播 ready to embark on her college career four months after enduring the most traumatic experience of her life 鈥� the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 of her peers and injured 17 others.
She needed a fresh start, and she needed the support of a community and family. She found what she was looking for in one of 激情快播鈥檚 registered student organizations, SISTUHS Incorporated.
鈥淭hey were a big part of my healing,鈥� says Allman, an advertising/public relations major who is now the group鈥檚 public relations chair. 鈥淚 found a group of Black women like myself who I was able to speak to on a deeper, personal level. Once I became a member, I had a place to come home and a group of women to call family.鈥�
Students can join more than 35 cultural registered student organizations through 激情快播鈥檚 Office of Student Involvement. The students who shared their stories for this article all echo Allman鈥檚 sentiments 鈥� their organizations have become a home away from home; their fellow members, a family. Their bonds are rooted in similar values, a love of food and traditions, and a commitment to lifting each other up.
激情快播 believes that excellence comes from difference. These students and organizations are working to enact change that will finally eradicate injustice and inequality, so that we can live up to our country鈥檚 founding principle: All [humans] are created equal.
What I Wish People Knew
鈥淸I want people to] realize that everyone has a story, everyone has something going on at home, everyone has some reason why their parents brought them to this country. I think everyone 鈥� no matter which community you belong to 鈥� needs to understand and practice tolerance and acceptance. Especially at 激情快播, the harmony needs to be prevalent. Even if we have all these separate cultural and ethnic organizations, we also have to learn to acknowledge each other鈥檚 presence and acknowledge each other鈥檚 history and roots.鈥�
Sampada Nyalapatla
Accounting and finance
Indian Student Association events director
鈥淪ystemic racism and ignorance still exist, unfortunately. The only thing we can really do is keep striving, and remember there鈥檚 really room for everyone to help combat it. 鈥� For those who can鈥檛 necessarily empathize with me when it comes to the color of my skin, I still advise you to get involved because everyone has a role in this fight for equality and equity.鈥�
Fridson Janvier
Emerging media
NAACP at 激情快播 secretary
鈥淭he Asian American community is overlooked. We are often the forgotten minority in society. We are the fastest-growing ethnic group to migrate to the United States, and our student body population is growing at 激情快播 as well. But we are given little priority or attention in diversity and inclusion programs. We are asking for change in our community and more representation and awareness.鈥�
Norynne Caleja
Legal studies and international and global studies
Asian Pacific American Coalition vice president
鈥淢en of Integrity has been coed since we started in 2003 but because of our name and logo, it throws a lot of people. We believe to have a strong man, you need a strong woman. We cannot be successful if we don鈥檛 have each other. More broadly, I wish people understood Black culture has a stamp on everything from music to food to art to film 鈥� we鈥檙e everywhere. And that鈥檚 what I really love about my heritage. That鈥檚 why it does sadden me to see people who aren鈥檛 as educated on certain subjects try to tear my culture down. I wish people knew how hard it is.鈥�
Leah Freeman
Interdisciplinary studies
Men of Integrity president
鈥淪audi Arabia has reformed many policies to help empower women and youth, but some people still have the wrong idea about Saudis. At 激情快播, we鈥檙e trying to act as ambassadors for our people. We opened our organization for all students to join so there can be more understanding about our heritage and culture. We are proud of it, and we want everyone to know about it.鈥�
Mohammed Albar
Civil engineering
Saudi Students Association vice president
What Recent Events
Have Taught Me
鈥淓verything has been overwhelming with the current events in the U.S. and the Philippines. Over the summer, the Philippines president passed an anti-terror law that has a very broad definition of what constitutes terrorism. This law takes away human rights and freedoms. If you鈥檙e protesting, expressing opposition against the government, then you鈥檙e considered a terrorist. Media is being censored and shut down there. I started advocating over the summer to bring awareness to the issues. I think using your voice is really important. Before college, I was considered shy, and it took a lot of courage to actually talk to people. Joining the Filipino Student Association helped me find my voice.鈥�
Kaitlin Altamirano
Nursing
Filipino Student Association president
鈥淚 have a niece in Chicago who is turning 2 in December. What is the world going to look like for her when she鈥檚 grown up? If
we continue along the path that we are now, I don鈥檛 think there will be a world for her, and that truly frightens me. I just want to give her the sense that somebody is fighting for her. I don鈥檛 want anybody to feel like they can鈥檛 live in a world they were born into.鈥�
Stedmon Ihejirika
Architecture pending
Black Student Union co-multimedia director
鈥淭his is a wake-up call. We need to end police brutality and the mistreatment of African Americans, but I also think there鈥檚 a global problem [of injustice and discrimination]. We have to use this [time] to create a ripple effect of change. For example, there is an Indian cream company that was called out because its products promote being light-skinned. The Indian Student Association is planning to have a workshop with the Asian Pacific American Coalition to talk about why colorism is so apparent in the Asian and Indian communities. I think what鈥檚 happening in this country is allowing us to have conversations that we couldn鈥檛 have before and potentially solve these big issues that spread across cultures.鈥�
Sampada Nyalapatla
鈥淚 went to one of the Black Lives Matter protests in Winter Park. I was marching alongside a Black woman and at one point, [the protest leaders] asked everyone to kneel. During that time, we recited all the names of the Black people who had been recently killed. I heard the lady beside me whimpering and crying quietly. The more we got through the names, the more she cried. It made me tear up. This lady may not even know these people, I may not have known her, but I felt what she felt. The fact that I felt her hurt angered me but that anger pushed me 鈥� there鈥檚 still work to be done.鈥�
Norynne Caleja
How I’m Taking Action
鈥�I鈥檓 studying to be an animator so I can create my own coming-of-age television series. I want it to be a show that anybody could look at the screen and say, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 me.鈥� Growing up, I didn鈥檛 see many people on TV who looked like me or did things I did. As a Black male, there鈥檚 always a stereotype that we鈥檙e rarely supposed to show emotions. Am I just supposed to hold it in? In my show, I want to specifically let my young Black male viewers know that it鈥檚 OK to be happy, to be angry, and of course cry. They鈥檙e basic emotions that they shouldn鈥檛 be robbed of.鈥�
Fridson Janvier
鈥�Over the summer, we collaborated with the Florida Asian American Student Union and other Filipino Student Associations across Florida to plan an art exhibition. The goal was to show pride and resilience through art. 激情快播鈥檚 FSA presented on the history of the Philippines, covering pre-colonial through post-colonial eras and educating audiences about the anti-terror law.鈥�
Kaitlin Altamirano
鈥淚 decided to start a business, and we鈥檙e basically a consultant company for startups 鈥� a team who helps people organize and start working toward the path of their dream. The entire business mission is generational change. How can we make this generation better than the previous? I feel like once we come together as a generation, no matter what skin color, we can start working to get past a lot of our issues.鈥�
Stedmon Ihejirika
鈥淚 started another student organization over the summer called Girl Up Orlando. My heritage and my Indian roots bring out the feminist in me because growing up, I saw so many things women had to face. In my mind, it鈥檚 about more than helping an individual person. If you empower and educate girls and women, the family becomes better and it鈥檚 a way of escaping out of the cycle of poverty, so in the end, you鈥檙e helping society as a whole.鈥�
Sampada Nyalapatla
What I Hope For the Future
鈥�I don鈥檛 want anyone harmed anymore. I don鈥檛 want any more racial wars. I just want straight peace. I don鈥檛 like arguing, and I don鈥檛 like fighting. I like communicating. I like for us to come to an agreement and an understanding: 鈥淥K, this is what I didn鈥檛 like. This is what I will fix.鈥� I want us to just talk things out and resolve issues through communication.鈥�
Stephen Blackwood
Health sciences聽
Caribbean Students’ Association team leader
鈥溂で榭觳� has had several discussions and forums since President Cartwright arrived, and I hope that the university takes action 鈥� not just performative action 鈥� to implement initiatives that they鈥檙e hearing requested from student leaders. I鈥檇 love to see the establishment of the Asian/Pacific Islander American Faculty and Staff Association because we don鈥檛 have one, and we have Black, Hispanic and LGBTQ+ faculty and staff associations. I also hope diversity and inclusion conversations will be brought up during Board of Trustees meetings. The board makes decisions and shapes policy at our institution, and they need to care about our large minority population.鈥�
Norynne Caleja
鈥�I want us to change cancel culture. You don鈥檛 have to cancel everything, especially people. Let鈥檚 work on educating them. Maybe I鈥檓 optimistic, but I really think that people aren鈥檛 born to innately do bad things. Oftentimes I think people do or say bad things because they鈥檙e ignorant of why it鈥檚 a problem. If we just keep canceling people and don鈥檛 take the time to educate them, that person will just keep doing that thing, and no one is better for it.鈥�
Sampada Nyalapatla
鈥�I just really want people to educate themselves more and have understanding and empathy for others. We have the election coming up 鈥� read up on the politicians, read what they鈥檙e advocating and campaigning for and vote for what鈥檚 right.鈥�
Leah Freeman
鈥淚 hope for the Saudi Students Association to get more involved in the community at 激情快播 and become one of the most active organizations. I really want the students at 激情快播 to visit Saudi Arabia and experience our culture.鈥�
Mohammed Albar
鈥�I hope for equal opportunity. There鈥檚 the thought that if you work hard, you can truly achieve the American dream, and that鈥檚 something that鈥檚 been sold to us for a long time. And I feel like it鈥檚 only a half-truth. We see people working hard constantly, some people are working more than 40 hours a week at two jobs, and still they struggle to make it paycheck to paycheck. I feel like in a better world and a more progressive society, no matter what, if you objectively work hard, you should be able to guarantee yourself a successful future.鈥�
Hector Cumba
Political science
Puerto Rican Student Association public relations representative
鈥淎lthough I do think 激情快播 is an amazing school, I feel like we should have mandatory sensitivity training for everyone because there are people who genuinely don鈥檛 know how to treat people of different races, ethnicities or genders. Everyone can think their way is absolute, but when their ignorance is harming other people, that鈥檚 an issue. Beyond 激情快播, I鈥檓 hopeful that the murder of people who look like me ceases. I would like the justice system to also really step it up. We heard for months, 鈥淎rrest the officers who killed Breonna Taylor.鈥� And when the ruling finally came down, only one officer was charged for the bullets that missed her body. Imagine how that makes me and other Black people feel? Minuscule is the answer. I really want the slap on the wrist to be harder for those who commit such acts. If not, it just opens the floodgates of 鈥渋f they can get away with it, then anyone can get away with it.鈥�
Fridson Janvier
鈥淧eople often say the solution to [racism and discrimination] is coming together, and I agree. As a society, we need to start accepting people for their differences. I think that鈥檚 where we go wrong as a country. When it boils down to things like your skin color, the foods you eat and where you come from, we need to get to a point where if we cannot relate or understand, we still acknowledge and respect others鈥� differences. In SISTUHS, one thing we鈥檙e taught early on is when you see a SISTUH, you see a friend. It doesn鈥檛 matter if they鈥檙e white, Black, Indian or whatever 鈥� you鈥檙e a resource of support for that person. I think if we all embodied that attitude, we would be better people and have a better political climate.鈥�
Ashleigh Allman