on embracing community Madison Yue

As a freshman, I felt overwhelmed by the number of booths at the club fair: STEM clubs, performing art clubs, culture clubs and more. That day, I probably signed up for more than 20 clubs.

Throughout my time at Gunn, I have been a part of a variety of diverse communities. In freshman year, I was one of many timid students navigating a new environment. As a sophomore, I joined a worldwide group of teenagers acclimating to online school. It wasn’t until junior and senior year when I learned the importance of communities.

While leading Airbands my junior and senior year, I saw the class come together to create a dance that we were all proud of: We really were all in this together. With a megaphone in my hand, telling people to straighten their arms, it was a joy to see our dance routine come to fruition week by week. We had many laughs that grew during each practice.

The theme of we’re all in this together continued in theatre’s production of “High School Musical.” After 8 hours of rehearsal on the weekends, I can proudly call myself an honorary theatre kid. The “Oo I feel so good like” circle and traditions before every show fully immersed me into the theatre community: I soon nailed the shake off, and the pounding on the floor to the jumping up and down.

Another important community to me, the Student Equity Committee, taught me to think about things through an equitable lens. Leading the committee and participating in all-day equity trainings, with speaker Dr. Lori A. Watson, created a comfortable environment for me to tackle tough questions: When was the first time you realized your race mattered? How much does race affect your daily life? These were difficult questions that I hadn’t thought about and questions that I’m still discovering answers to. In these equity trainings, I realized that not everyone felt the community aspect of Gunn like I did. Yet, I saw these trainings evolve into conversations with others in taking baby steps to making Gunn a more inclusive campus. What I really like about these trainings is that even though it is one person talking about their experience, it is a shared experience that people can relate to. Even for experiences that I couldn’t relate to, I was able to empathize with people to the point where I learned to look at my classmates with a greater sense of awareness. These experiences forged stronger connections with other students and the different communities at Gunn. In The Oracle, I got the opportunity to explore these different perspectives and ensure they were represented in our writing. I was able to learn about one student’s obsession with Star Trek, how one student honors their indigenous culture through traditional dances and the importance of people’s names and pronunciation.

Through hearing the stories of people in the Student Equity Committee and interviewing people in The Oracle, I began thinking more about my role in my environment and how I could contribute to making change. Class of 2023, although we will all travel our own separate paths, I hope you’ll know that we will always be a part of the Gunn community. The road ahead of you may be intimidating, but I challenge you to join other groups that you may not otherwise think about. After all, when you are a part of something larger, you will gain a multitude of perspectives on life and of the world around you.