 
hi class of 2024! Welcome to Conn. I'm here to share with you
what race and ethnicity programs is all about at Connecticut College. My name is Truth Hunter.
I'm the director of race and
ethnicity programs and I just want to
start by saying that I love the work
that I do on campus I work mostly with
students who self-identify as students
of color at Connecticut College and we
have a center it's called unity houses
our Multicultural Center and it's really
designed to empower students who
self-identify as a student of color our
first-generation college students so
what I want to do now is share with you
more about what kind of programs that we
offer here at race and ethnicity
programs and how could you possibly get
involved how can you get connected to
this particular community when you get
on campus so first I want to share with
you that we don't just serve students we
serve faculty and staff we're all about
creating community right connecting you
with mentors connecting you with faculty
members who can serve as guides having
discussions and conversations so
basically that's what we do broadly but
more specifically for our first-year
students we have something called our
Genesis program and our Genesis programs
have some really important components
that I want to share with you so the
first component is our mentoring
component every student who opts into
the Genesis program gets carefully
matched with an upper-class mentor and
the reason why that's really important
is even before you get on campus your
mentor will reach out to you with any
questions you may have um
letting you know about resources helping
you with figuring out different things
so that connection is gonna happen right
away once you start up start with the
Genesis program another aspect of
Genesis that's really important
is our pre-orientation program which is
the day before move-in day and it's a
wonderful opportunity once again for
students who self-identify as students
of color and first-generation college
students to come together create
community get excited about their
journeys at con this year we're gonna
have a really cool model kind of like
different workshops and breakout groups
so that you can learn about how can you
get fully connected through clubs how
can you find a job on campus which is
really excited about giving you a great
jumpstart when you start here at
Connecticut College and also another
fabulous thing about our Genesis
pre-orientation is that you get to meet
your mentor for the first time in person
to start that journey in your first year
another aspect of our Genesis program is
that we offer a one credit course and
what that does it sort of extends our
pre-orientation so that you're not just
meeting all these fabulous people one
time and then classes start and then
everybody go their separate ways and you
never see them again we're all about
creating community and that's why we've
created and designed this class to do
that I also just want to share with you
one more thing about our Heritage Month
programming so we recognize that unity
house that oftentimes all cultures
aren't represented in mainstream media
or or constantly in the curriculum so we
want to make sure that we provide
opportunities to share the heritage the
struggles the journeys the stories of
Latinas communities Native American
communities black communities in Asian
Pacific Islander communities so we have
a team of really outstanding student
leaders put on these events every month
and we just want you to get excited
about some of the things that you can
get involved in when you come here to
Connecticut College we hope that unity
house will be a second home for you once
again my name is truth hunter it was
such a pleasure to meet you and I'd look
for it says meeting a person take care
