Multicultural retreat builds understanding

To increase understanding of others between different groups, 28 students came together in a casual setting to help leaders better prepare for the ever-growing diversity around them.

The second weekend-long Multicultural Leadership Retreat took place Sept. 19-21 bringing USD students to one site to learn more about diversity.

Jesus Trevino, associate V.P. for diversity, said the this year’s retreat had a more pronounced variety of cultural backgrounds. The event was open to all students than the first and the curriculum ran more smoothly.

Trevino also said the retreat helped break the cultural walls that keep students separated.

“We get students to understand that we actually belong to a lot of different groups and that we compete with each other in order to make ourselves better — put our best foot forward. But a lot of times what happens is that we do it at the expense of the other group,” Trevino said.

The trip to the Broom Tree Conference Center in Irene, S.D., was free and open to all students. It was funded through the Office of Diversity along with the Office of the President. The retreat only accepted people through an application, first-come, first-serve basis.

Trevino said the learning and growth students experienced at the retreat will affect the whole campus.

“They’re going to come back and they’re going to talk to other students. They’re also going to create different projects that will add to a greater understanding of different groups,” Trevino said. “Then, all of that is going to contribute to a positive campus climate for diversity.”

At the retreat, students learned about worldview stories, played interactive games, shared opinions and learned how to be leaders in a diverse world.

Trevino, Kelly McKay-Semmler, Sandra Mollman, graduate students Allison Crespo and Lateesha Caswell and eight other volunteers assisted in the retreat’s workshops. Activities included the power struggle game of Star Power, a simulation cross-cultural exchange game of Baranga and workshops on micro-agression.

Sophomore Adewunmi Adekola said her favorite activity was Cultural Presentation Night, where she heard how different groups feel about their place in and acceptance by society. She found it is important to respect what everyone stands for.

Students were separated into groups and given 30 minutes to come up with a positive presentation in the form of a PowerPoint, dance or other creative way.

Adekola said she came to better understand how different, but very similar, countries are to each other.

“When we see ourselves physically, we just say ‘Oh, I’m different from this person,’ but when we hear in-depth of where they come from we say ‘Oh yeah, we’re kind of the same, we’re similar,'” Adekola said.

Junior Sopida Trageser said her most memorable activities were the oppression exercises, where Trevino held up a net riddled with terms to symbolize the complexity of the system of micro-aggression. This activity showed the vicious cycle that is going unnoticed because of the way people make light of the jokes they say.

“It’s all fun and games when you’re joking about stuff, but then joking is a part of that system. Joking leads to assumptions, assumptions lead to practices and then it leads to bad things in the media,” Trageser said. “I need to see myself more as an educator and realize that not everyone is going to know everything about my culture and understand that there are things that I’m not going to know about their cultures either.”

(Students attend a multicultural retreat Sept. 19-21 in Irene. Submitted Photo / The Volante)