I feel as part of a minor ethnic group, sometimes it is hard to see Bangladeshi representation among our community. I wanted to show the OU community that Asian Americans include many diverse groups, such as Bangladeshis, Iranians, Uzbeks, Laotians, Vietnamese, and many more.
My platform was about promoting a better wellbeing among the Asian community on the OU campus. I believe that there is a holistic approach to a person's wellbeing, such as financial, social, physical, mental, and socioeconomic aspects, and I hope to help people navigate those resources during and after their time at the university.
I performed a Benagli Folk and Bharatanatyam fusion dance because it ties my heritage and culture to the dance I professionally learned growing up. I chose a popular Bengali song called "Nitol Paye," which is a song about a girl dancing to her own as her anklets jingle. This song was one of my childhood favorites growing up and I wanted to share traditional Bengali music with the OU community.
I wanted to be a role model for Native American girls and young ladies. I want them to know that it is okay to be yourself and that you do not have to change to fit in. Also, I wanted to show them the importance of getting an education because people in our community don’t always place importance on it. Finally, I wanted to be a safe space for them to come to for support.
My platform is diabetes awareness because diabetes has reached epidemic proportions and the Native community is hit the hardest by it. We do not eat as healthy, and we are not as active as our ancestors were so it’s important for us to be aware of what the disease is and how to prevent it!
A pointe ballet dance to "Sisters" by the Halluci Nation. I have been a dancer my entire life and ballet has always been my favorite style. On top of that, the talent and hard work of the indigenous Five Moons Ballerinas has always inspired me, so I wanted to do something to honor them.
I plan to do fun activities such as stickball or basketball games to promote physical activity. I want to promote healthy eating by planning potlucks where we all bring a healthy dish. Another idea I have is to make healthy snack packs during midterms and finals to promote choosing healthy snacks over junk food. I hope these events will encourage my community to make healthy choices so that we can prevent diabetes from taking over the lives of our people.
My platform is called “Rompiendo Fronteras”, and it focuses on bridging the gap between emergent bilingual students and higher education. I chose this platform because I currently work with these students and I hope to work with them after graduation. I see the desperate need for support, representation, and advocacy within this community. I am also a native Spanish speaker and I consider being bilingual my biggest superpower. I would love for other people in my community to feel empowered within their own language system just like I do! I believe language is the biggest connection to our diverse cultural backgrounds.
I saw the need for work specifically within the emergent bilingual community. I am already a part of various organizations within the Hispanic/Latine community, and I try to gear those same organizations toward emergent bilingual students as well. I am aware that this is not the most efficient way to serve them, so I thought that serving as Hispanic Royalty would give me a clear path to enact my platform, as well as a great way to honor my culture.
I sang “Paloma Negra" in honor of my abuelita Leti who passed in 2016. As a little girl, she always motivated me to sing. I chose to sing in Spanish specifically because I think that my language is beautiful, and it is a direct connection to my Mexican roots.
I will establish a mentorship program between bilingual students at OU and emergent bilingual students at primarily white high schools. Overall, I hope to inform people on the importance of linguistic diversity and diminish linguistic discrimination within our community while empowering emergent bilingual students to apply and thrive within higher education.
