Hello, wonderful people at Clark College!
I’m going to talk about the Diversity Center, one of my favorite places on campus. The diversity center has been my personal staple at Clark College since first starting here back in 2016. Back then, they had a completely different (yet still amazing) staff, and their office wasn’t as cool as it is now. I am a queer black person, and so it was hard to find for me to find people to connect with and that get a lot of the same struggles I faced, both as a college student and in my personal life. Since coming back to Clark College, I made sure that I reconnected with that resource and the staff. They host luncheons, events, and get togethers with students and staff. Some of the clubs/luncheons include: the Queer student club (a.k.a the Queer Agenda, a queer club we have here on campus), BSU Luncheon (The Black Student Union), Multicultural Student Luncheon, and Disabilities Student Luncheons. I highly recommend anyone that doesn’t know where to find people or is having a hard time connecting with their peers to check out one of these events.
The Diversity Center is an important resource for any student, no matter your gender identity/expression, race, ethnicity, nationality, sex, and/or sexual orientation. The best thing about their offices is that they are connected to almost every other office on campus, whether that’s disability support services, international programs, financial aid, etc. If you are having a problem on campus, or something is going wrong, or anything that can come up as a student, they are there to help you. The staff they currently have (Alyssa, Vanessa, Nicole, Dee, Rosalba, and Mike) are amazing and are always ready to help students. The staff work hard with community outreach such as, Noche De Familia, a Spanish-speaking event for families to come and learn more about college and the resources we have. They even go out of the city like an event I attended up in Renton, Washington with Nicole and Dee along with another student, so we can get connected with HBCU’s (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and different colleges in the Pacific Northwest.
If you’re looking for help in any aspect of your life, whether that’s work-life balance, work-student balance, life-student balance, the Diversity Center has Student Success Coaches there that can be able to help. I personally see Lana, who works with students who are pursuing arts or communication degrees. We talk about how I can be a better student, how to organize my life so I’m not as scattered brain all the time, and working on better habits to improve my accountability. I absolutely love working with these coaches, the others include Jill (who specializes in S.T.E.M.) and Katia (who specializes with Business and Management). Each of them is unique in how they approach problems that students are having with solutions that positively impact a student’s life.
I recommend the Diversity Center not just for the points that I outlined, but for the reason of “what’s the worst that can happen.” This is an office meant for students to come, connect, and grab help when they need it. Take advantage of every situation and resource we have here at Clark College, and if you have questions, start with the Diversity Center and they’ll help you from there.
Clark College Student Ambassadors 