*I have been gone for a few months because so much has happened to me since Janurary. I will write about all the crazy things in the next upcoming blog post!*

I recently graduated from the University of Michigan (#GoBlue) and this post series is about the things that I participated in throughout these last 4 years. I will also highlight some classes I took as well. I can say that I got something from every class that I took, but these stood out to me in a special way. If there is a link to the program/class, I will provide one.

This is a 3-part series. Find the other post here:

Part 2

Part 3

All Four Years

Kessler Presidential Scholarship (Kessler)

https://lsa.umich.edu/scholarships/irene-and-morris-b-kessler-presidential-scholarship.html

The Kessler Presidential Scholarship is a scholarship and community that I have been a part of for all 4 years of undergrad. It is a program that you are selected for, not one that you apply to (to my knowledge).

Here is what they say about their selection process:

"All Kessler Scholars are selected based upon their accomplishments, financial need, status as a first-generation college student, and potential to become successful campus leaders. The LSA Scholarship Office reviews your admissions essays, recommendations, and records of achievement, specifically seeking:

high academic and personal accomplishments
distinct leadership skills and service to others
the ability to overcome adversity
promising capability to contribute to and benefit from the diverse Kessler Scholars community"

The support you financially, emotionally, socially, and academically. Through the program I’ve met Fred and Judy Wilpon, been to motivation events, made sushi, been able to mentor younger Kessler Scholars (shout out to Austin) and felt heard. The funny thing about Kessler is that I made friends throughout college and then I would go to a Kessler event and see that they are Kesslers too.

Comprehensive Studies Program (CSP)

I got my acceptance letter to Michigan and it said that I was admitted into the Comprehensive Studies Program. I was confused, but overlooked it as I was just excited to have gotten into Michigan. Once I got to college, I enrolled in CSP General Chemistry and noticed that most of the students were Black and they knew each other…

I felt weird because I knew Michigan was very white.

But I found out later that CSP is for students from “at risk” backgrounds and most of the kids knew each other because they went to Bridge or went to high school together. CSP is a great program. You get to have smaller class sizes, tutoring, free GRE prep classes, great events, and amazing academic advisors. This is a program where you are already put into it when you are accepted to Michigan or you can ask to be a part of it (I believe). I would highly suggest that you embrace the program, join if you are not in it, and really get to know the students and staff at the events. These people can be your lifelong friends, join orgs with you, share classes with you, and can be a great support system. The staff could be the key to your goal. Utilize them and all the resources that they have to offer.

Freshman

Residential College (RC)

Lakyrra (right), Justin (middle), and Margarett (me, left) at the honors graduation. We met through the RC.

The Residential College is a living community in East Quad. Some may describe it as “hippie” place. It claims to be LGBTQ+ friendly and civil-activist influenced as far as programming and resident viewpoints are concerned. This is subjective. Some people get this sense, some people get the opposite.

To graduate with the residential college, you have to complete some requirments. The hardest one is the intensive language and proficiency requirements. I joined the RC to get a small college feel (you live in the dorm where your RC classes are so it is easy to meet people). The language classes were 8 credits a semester and I thought that I could get over my LSA language requirement with it quicker. That is true...if you are good at learning a foreign language. Spanish was my worst subject in high school so I am not sure why I thought it would be a good idea to do an intensive language program. I did not reach proficiency with the RC but I did learn so much and used that knowledge to survive Barcelona. You have to go to 2 lectures 4 days a week, 4 discussion sections 4 days a week, eat lunch with professors and other students in the class while only talking in Spanish (or whatever language you choose) 2-3 times a week, and you have to take intensive exams with multiple parts that take over a day to complete. I would recommend the program to people who are from a smaller high school, to people who really want to learn a language, and to people who are interested in the arts (visual, writing, theatre, singing, etc.). The RC is good at all of that.

Support for Incoming Black Students (SIBS)

SIBS is a mentor group that pairs black incoming students with black students. When I was a freshman, I was paired with Micah, soon to be Central Student Government VP. She was an amazing and very sweet person. She was also a part of a club called National Council of Negro Women and is one of the reasons I decided to join it my junior year. It is a great program to get incoming students to know at least one other person of their race on campus. Representation matters and in such a big campus, it can be easy to feel isolated.

Residential College Mentorship Among Peers (RC MAPS)

This was a mentorship program for the RC. I don’t really remember benefiting from it besides meeting someone older that lived in my dorm. I just wasn’t involved in the org that much.

Kgrams

Kgrams was this sweet program where you could be a pen pal to someone in elementary school. You just talk about random stuff (favorite color, movies, vacations, family, etc). At the end of the year you get to meet your pen pal. I never met mine because I always had something to do (exam, work, or something else).

Telefund

Telefund is a student call center within the Office of Development at the University of Michigan. I have mixed feelings about it. Telefund was my job for 2 years. I was a Student Caller, Supervisor, and Supervisor Lead. It was good in that it gave me great transferable skills (management, fundraising, persuasion, communication, etc.), allowed for upward mobility, and it was not a physically intensive job, more mentally intensive. It is not the job for everyone. It also is the first job I unexpectedly resigned. I quit because I felt unappreciated in the workplace and I felt like I was treated differently. I found a new job before I officially quit. I actually thought I would just do a leave of absence for 2 weeks because my lease was up, but I got a job offer elsewhere and decided to not look back. I would do it again. I do not regret the whole experience. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the job to everyone, but there is something to gain from it besides paying it forward (as far as helping fundraise goes).

AMCULT 201: American Value: The Problems of the “We” Dr. Hass

This class was about war, photography, and American History. This class is where I learned about Internment Camps and Redlining/ Housing Discrimination. It really blew my mind, put a lot of things in perspective, and I use what I learned in this class in my classes after. If you don't know about those two things, you should look them up. I do not think this professor is teaching this class anymore, but I’m sure you could talk to her about those things if you are interested in learning more.

RCARTS 289: Ceramics- Dr. Crowell

This class was fun. I went to a gifted/talented middle and high school. I had a concentration of 3D Art, so I wanted to make sure I kept practicing even though I decided not to accept Michigan’s Art School Acceptance letter. In this class I made a peach pit, some cups glazed with ash glaze from Saginaw Trees, made a ceramic shoe model, wheel threw for the first time, made a pot the shape of my breathe (we did a meditation exercise), and I made theses dope ceramics elephants that were hiding in a lamp shade. I also did some electrical work to make them real lamps. Its an Elephant in the Room. Get it? I crack myself up.

SOC 100: Intro to Soc- Dr. McGinn

This class was okay. The only reason why I am writing about it is because I learned about food deserts in this class. To describe it, my professor used the example of Saginaw, which is wild, but true. That year, or the year after, the closest Kroger to my home closed.

FYW: Rites of Reading Children’s Literature and Artistic Expression- Dr. Goodenough

This class was the smallest class ever (like 6-8 people). In this class I learned about children’s literature, censorship, and even got to write my own children’s book. It was a great class because I got to explore some issues I was concerned about through children's literature. I want to do something with that project later, so I will save more about that for another time.

Cinetopia

Cinetopia is a summer film festival in Ann Arbor and Detroit. They show films that won awards at other film festivals. As a volunteer, at least with the position I had, you help scan tickets, collect the votes, and greet visitors. It was a great volunteer experience because it was indoors, people were friendly, and you got a free Cinetopia movie ticket for every shift you worked. You could also go into the movies of your shift after you scanned everyone in. I would highly recommend.

Sophomore

RC

*Same RC as above*

Kgrams

Same Kgrams as above except this year I was a Swing Kid for my dorm. There are 2 Swing Kids for each dorm and they are responsible for reading the college students’ letters to make sure they are abiding by the rules. They are also responsible for making a pretty container for the letters so that the kids will see something beautiful when they are delivered. This was a pretty easy job and reading other people’s letters gave me some ideas for my own.

Telefund

Same Telefund as above. This is the year I became a Supervisor and Supervisor Lead and the same year I decided to leave.

Art Fair

I love the Ann Arbor Art Fair. It is a huge fair where artists from all around come with a booth and sell art. It is a weekend long event and brings so many people to the city. I bought an art piece once and I love it so much. I saw a job posting sign on a pole for Art Fair workers. I had an all day shift on the day before the event and a half day shift on the last day of the event. My job was to manage the street and traffic where artists were coming to set up and take down. That meant telling angry artist they have to wait, asking them to move their cars, and reminding them to be quick so that when other artists come they aren’t in the way anymore. This was the first time I got sunburnt but it was a good job to get some extra cash for the weekend and to actually get to know the artist before the fair began.

Cinetopia

*Same Cinetopia as above*

Taste of Ann Arbor

This is another volunteer experience. Taste of Ann Arbor is when resturants set a booth up downtown and have sample sizes of some of their dishes that people can try if they purchase tickets. It is a one day event and a nice way to spend your Sunday. Here I stood at a booth and sold tickets for the festival. I also go to get a few tickets myself for volunteering, which was pretty cool.

Imyst

Over the summer I wanted another job so that I can work 40 hours between Job X and Telefund. I ended up with another telephone job (go figure). This job was pretty easy. I called mystery shoppers to tell them about mystery shopping gigs in their area. I even got an extra dollar for each mystery shop gig I set up. This job dealt with a little persuasion and customer service. It was also eye opening to learn about the type of things you can do for money.

If you want some extra cash, you can become a mystery shopper. You can go to the movies, go to a dealership, call apartments, get a carpet estimate, go to a restaurant, and many other things you probably didn’t think about.

Abeng Multicultural Council

Maybe I should have burned my campaign poster instead of posting it here...

This was just a dorm council that was meant to focus on multicultural issues and inclusivity in the dorm. I don’t feel like I gained anything significant from it.

*AAS 490: Black World: African and African American Art

This was my first DAAS class and I got to learn about African art, culture, and religion from a white man. I am not mad he was white, I was just surprised. He was an interesting guy. The first day of class we sat in a circle with dirt in the center. He sent us on scavenger hunts sometimes too. The homework was readings and bringing back a question, which was easy. It was a mini course and it was a class that was sometimes in the museum so that we could look at and analyze the African art that the University “owns”.

*RCARTS286: Sculpture

I just really love art. This class was below my challenge level, but I enjoyed it. I got to make a big head version of myself and walk in a parade. I also go to carve soap, play with Styrofoam and cement, and many other weird materials that I hadn’t worked with before. Every semester the class is different though. I would encourage you to take the class, but keep in mind, art can be fun, frustrating, and time consuming.

*SW 305: CASC

In this class I was introduced to Social Work and my minor (Community Action and Social Change). If you are interested in being a CASC minor you have to do the class. Even if you do not end up a CASC minor, the class was pretty interesting, but you have to do a group project. My group was fine, but I have heard horror stories.

That concludes the first part of my top programs/classes. My life kind of flips around in between Sophomore and Junior year so stay tuned for the second half.

Have you participated in any of these programs/classes? What were your thoughts on them? Any departments or programs during your first 2 years of college help you? Write a comment below!

Tops: University of Michigan (Part 1: Underclassman)