HANNA WOLKE, GUEST WRITER
“We’ve forgotten that for many students they get to Wartburg and it looks and feels differently from where they were from before,” Lindsey Leonard, director of Student Engagement, said.
This was definitely true for me and participating in IS 101 has effectively made me more aware of the community around me and work on successfully interacting with varying communities.
IS 101 hosted the “Say What” presentation on microaggressions on Sept. 30. The presentation is intended to have students recognize different communities on campus and learn how to interact successfully, while working to understand how our privilege affects interactions.
“It’s only easy to recognize a microaggression when it’s directed toward you or someone we care about. It’s rarely ever noticed the rest of the time,” Leonard said.
At the beginning of the presentation, the speaker asked if students have heard of microaggressions. Many of the first-year students had heard of microaggressions, but didn’t exactly know what they were.
“We can celebrate our diversity all we want, the truth is, it doesn’t really matter until we also teach inclusivity,” Cassie Hales, director of Residence Life, said.
In the four years we will be on this campus, we will meet people from all walks of life. However, it is somewhat pointless unless we learn to practice inclusivity hand-in-hand with appreciation and admiration.
Knight Wire 
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