I recently graduated from the University of Michigan (#GoBlue) and this post 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.

Welcome to the final installment of my top programs at the University of Michigan. This blog post focuses on my senior year. If you are interested in learning about my freshman/sophomore years, click here. And for junior year click here.

Senior

NCNW

I mentioned the National Council of Negro Women in my last post because I started working with the organization during my junior year. However, my senior year experience with the organization was completely different. Senior year I served as the President of NCNW at my university.

One of my goals as President was to make sure that eboard was tight. If we saw each other as friends, we wouldn't have a problem with working towards the orgs common goals. I believe I accomplished that. I know to some people that it still felt like a chore, but I tried to be flexible and accommodating to all of the girls in a way that they wanted to help and wanted to be there for each other outside of the organization as well. I’m not the President anymore and I still want the very best for all of them.

I also wanted it to be an organization that had grad students, faculty, and community members engaged as well. I felt this way because I was going to grad school soon and thought about how I will miss being a part of the org. I accomplished this and we had 2-3 grad members, along with so much community and faculty support. It was amazing. We had a male member and community members particpate in performance and being speakers/guest at our events.

NCNW Eboard and Performers from our HIV Monologue Event

We put on a ton of great events, we learned how to ADAPT, and we kept it pushing, no matter what the issues were. And they were by my side the whole time. When I felt overwhelmed, they were happy to help. We did work with HIV Awareness, professionalism, health, beauty, and just plain bonding. I love the work that we did.

I also thought about my last year experience a lot while I was President. I know being a President can be difficult and everything won't be perfect. I tried to fix the issues that I thought existed last year. I tried to have transparency with everyone about what I do, what they should be doing, and what everyone else is doing as well. I was transparent about money, about what could work, and the girls were transparent with me about issues they were having. This transparency let us help each other. I was no sense in having members stressed about letting the organization down when they are stressed about school, family, money, etc. We all have individual lives and we are all students first. I prioritized that. When they told me they had issues with something, we adapted, and I would put some of their load on the rest of us. We lost a few girls for reasons that I understand. I think that just made the rest of us closer.

I hope the next President takes the organization and reaches the new heights that I couldn’t. I hope they keep up what the people before us have done and improve it. And if not, I just hope that Black Women on campus find community and it is helpful, not a hindrance.

I’m really in my feelings that my next school doesn’t have an NCNW but I know it wouldn’t be the same anyway.

If you are interested in learning about the history of the organization, click here.

If you are interested in joining the chapter at the University of Michigan, check out our website, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Trotter

I said what I had to say about Trotter on my last blog post (see link above). A lot of stuff changed my second year there. New full-time staff really altered the place. Trotter will be completely changed after it moves to the new building though.

Research

Some people from my lab on my birthday! (It was the other 3 people's birthday as well)

Senior year I continued to work in Dr. Ceballos lab (which I talked about in my last blog post). This year I completed an honors thesis. I’m hoping to make a blog post about that later, so stay tuned.

ICPSR (NACDA)

With Trotter going through so much change, I knew I needed to find another job for the summer. I originally looked for another job because applying to graduate school WIPED ME OUT. I am honestly scared to look up the exact cost, but I know it was around or over $2,500. I’ll make a separate blog post about that. So I got another job in the second semester and started working about 30-40 hours while being a full time student. I was stressed at some points, but both jobs are flexible and I survived. It was really rough though. But I know some people work full time for all of college, so I tried not to complain too much (but a part of my thought about how some people don't have to work at all). This job was interesting though. The aging archive is not exactly what my desired research focuses on, but working here has taught me a lot about research, data, and other things that will help me in the future. The people are nice too, and care about what I want to learn, which is always a plus.

*Psych 352: Develop Language

Kareem, my professor, some of my classmates, and I at the Cider Mill

I really tried to drop this class, but it ended up not being that bad actually. It felt rough for me because it was some BCN students and some Linguistic students and I felt like I couldn’t make up stuff on the spot like Linguistic students could. I took the class to learn more about Linguistics and because I liked my first Linguistic class and I was excited to learn more about AAVE. The exams, for me, were easy, but I stressed a lot about them because the class was something that I had to work for.

But I added this class to my list because I did enjoy it in the end. I got to write a paper about AAVE and we took a trip to the apple orchard. I also recently found out that my professor is friends with the Black professors that I love, so she must be a good one.

*Psych 355: Cog Develop

This class was great because we got to watch baby videos half the time. The professor, Susan Gelman, is world renown and is a great instructor. The problem is that it is early in the morning. 8 or 8:30am. Yeah. BUT I picked it because I heard such great things about her. Her test were memorization based, which wasn’t the best in my opinion, but overall I loved the class. This class also had a final paper that allowed you to do whatever you wanted, as long as it related to the class topics. I like those assignments because it allows me to further look into research that I am interested in.

*RCHUMS 334: The Atonement Project (PCAP)

I avoided this class for all of college. I was scared to deal with learning about Prison for personal reasons, but this class is truly life changing and anyone who took a class related to PCAP will tell you the same. I didn’t work in a Prison, but I did work with a reentry workshop. The class, the people, and the books we read were out of this world. My eyes are open and my heart is full. This is one of the best classes that this University has to offer. Ashley Lucas is a phenomenal woman and does amazing work. If you can, even if you think you will hate it, you should take the class. Everyone should take the class.

*EDUC 119: Educ Policy in Multicultural Context

This class also blew my mind. I was suppose to take it with Damaris (cough, cough). I learned so much about the Education system and had to really critically think about what problems exist, why they exist, how to solve them, and how one rule can influence other rules/ people that it didn’t intend to influence. Policy is a scary beast to battle. The education system is no different. I took the class because I wanted to learn more about policy and education in relation to my research interest. Simona is a great teacher as well, which is partially why I took the class (she was a guest lecturer in my RCHUMS class that I mentioned last blog). I highly encourage taking this class as well.

Well that concludes my top classes/clubs/programs that I interacted with during these past 4 years at Michigan. This doesn’t include everything that I’ve done in college, but gives you a glimpse of some of the best parts.

When you went to Michigan, what was your tops? If you go to Michigan now, what do you love? Let me know below (or just say hi)!

Feel free to contact me if you have questions about something that I talked about in this blog series. I am happy to help you make your experience at Michigan the best it can be.

Tops: University of Michigan (Part 3: Senior Year)