“I feel like there should be a space and community where people listen to each other, share their experiences, learn from those, and then improve on what happened in the past. I think listening and having productive conversations is the only way you can make a space more welcoming.”
— Ahyen
“…where you can be your most authentic self.”
“I just remember being a senior in high school looking at the different colleges, and I honestly looked at the most affordable one where I could be far enough away where I could be independent, but also not have accrue too much debt like that. And, NIU seemed to be the perfect place that had a lot of student orgs. It wasn't too far. Affordable, of course, which is the main thing. And then I also saw that it had places like The Arc and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, and as a Filipino American, that was really important, so it was a combination of cultural centers and the opportunities.”
“I feel a bigger sense of belonging and purpose here.
This location is very important to me, to my self-development. So I hope people see that this was a space I grew in.”
“I feel like the concept of belonging to me, it feels like when you feel safe and warm.”
— Ahyen
“Building a community, you have to take a lot of initiative. You can't sit there and hope that you find your people in college. You kind of have to put yourself out of your comfort zone and listen to different people, experience different things, and you can't do the same things you did when you were younger. And once you see all those different perspectives, you find a lot in common, a lot to speak about and learn about. And I feel like that's what helps you just be more comfortable being uncomfortable if that makes sense?