Alexander Wicken
The students here care very deeply about many, many things. I think Brandeis students are very willing to help each other.
Daphne Ballesteros
One of the things that made Brandeis so special is the amount of communities that you can join.
Alexander Wicken
Brandeis has been fundamental to building my love for learning more and helping me grow as a student.
Alexander Wicken
Peer to peer mentorship really is rooted in Brandeis values. So as a pride rep, it's a peer mentorship and education program.
Daphne Ballesteros
What goes into being a pride rep is like a lot of, like, love and dedication. Having someone that looks like you and has gone through you same experience is telling you that it's going to be OK and that you're going to succeed and that there are people on the way to help you just means so much more.
Alexander Wicken
Peer to peer mentorship lets you connect and lets the people who you're mentoring connect with you very deeply because there's less of like a power dynamic than like meeting with an academic advisor or like a faculty member or something like that. Instead, it's somebody who's had the same or similar Brandeis experience to you.
Daphne Ballesteros
One of the things that I feel like I would take away from my experiences as a pride rep was the value of your story, and that no one can tell your experience the way you can, and that even though everyone wants to see like, that's and figures, nothing's more valuable than what you had experience where you had see, which like they're teaching you like.
Daphne Ballesteros
No, you have to come with the hard data and say, no, you are the hard data. I think for me, the GSC really gave me a safe space. Like, even though I don't identify as queer, I like really resonate with the mission that it's also a space for women.
Alexander Wicken
Learning and educating is one of the best way to help people. And the GSC has let me grow as an educator, but has also let me learn also shown me the importance of advocacy and advocacy at many different levels. From a one to one level of just supporting someone all the way to organizing massive events So I am curious, why did you apply to the GSC?
Daphne Ballesteros
When I saw it on Workday, I'll say, oh, this sounds like kind of cool I was reading to the description. I was like, I guess I'll try it out. Like, I liked the idea of being a peer mentor and the mission that I was saying sounds like, well, let's see if I even, like, get a callback for an interview. We'll see how it goes.
Daphne Ballesteros
And then I ended up getting one. I'm glad I did because I had seen that, like Julian who is Latinx, and Julie, who's Asian, like having like people of color be my interviewers, which you don't really see. That was really exciting being like it was really welcoming, like from the get go I was like, Oh, this is someone I can connect with right off the bat.
Daphne Ballesteros
I don't have to, like, take a moment to explain like this little aspect of one of the interview questions.
Alexander Wicken
Now, I think I feel like very similarly, especially like in my interview, like talking about like my identity and my transness. And then I think it was one of the first environments I've been in where it wasn't like an othering thing because even in environments that are inclusive, it's still like a descriptor or like a category, whereas I feel like at the GSC, it's just it's I mean, this is a little cliché, but like the idea of like it's just an intersectional environment where it's like when I'm there, I'm just Alex and like the other identities are like valued and like honored.
Alexander Wicken
But it's not like like sort of singled out as, like, what's valuable. Like, I think really the GSC works really well at like seeing us as humans, which is kind of cool. Being able to, like, be the people who are building up a safe space has been a really wonderful experience, at least for me, because I know like yes, I have friends who come and like enjoy the space, but I've also just met people or reconnected with people who are like, I haven't either hadn't talked to or haven't talked to since like orientation week in my first year, things like that, where like I found that people are seeking me out to say like Hey,
Alexander Wicken
I know you have this position, can we chat? Like I ran into somebody in Gosman and they were like, Is this weird? And I was like, This is literally my job. Please come talk to me.
Daphne Ballesteros
It's also really cool to like just know that it's a resource. Like for my fellowship, we got to call all the newly admitted students that are going to Brandeis, and I remember one of them, I had to call and was like, Hey, so what would happen if I were to get like a homophobic or transphobic roommate? Because like, you don't you don't really get to pick where you live with.
Daphne Ballesteros
And the fact that I was able to be like, the GSC has you like we have a whole resource guide. We have people who like have connections to housing and like do not worry if that were to happen? Because we have people you can talk to being able to just say that like it's OK and being able to give someone a tangible peace of mind was cool.
Alexander Wicken
And I think like jumping off of that, like thinking back to myself as a first year I think I would have benefited so much from like this program and having like a peer mentor because I came in to Brandeis from a fairly like not necessarily conservative environment, but maybe just an environment that's not as educated on all topics.
Alexander Wicken
Thinking about how now, like I'm the person that I might have needed as a first year has been really, really cool to reflect on, because I think that's just one of the wonderful ways in which we grow. And the peer mentors that we have, like the pride reps. It's not like any of us are just pride reps, which I think is one of the best things.
Alexander Wicken
And one of the values of peer mentorship is that like our role isn't just an educator through the GSC, all of us, like some of us are community advisor or some of us are UDR, some of us like are involved in other clubs on campus. And so it's more, I think, well rounded.
Daphne Ballesteros
And definitely feel that because like even with little things like coming after like trainings and coming like really excited, like my roommate or like my friends who are in because they're all in STEM, basically, I'm like, this is like a cool new thing that I learned about gender and sexuality. I like to think about things or like we didn't know that either.
Daphne Ballesteros
So just like, was like the little things, I was like, OK, now I just learned some things and I can teach other people and then they can just go teach other people and just like just seeing how like excited people get. I don't know. So kind of cute. Really. Wow. Thank you for telling me that.
Alexander Wicken
I think like, there's almost a butterfly effect with like our mentorship and our training because like, we started out like caterpillars and like, we've learned and we've grown, but now, like, our ability to help others is then having those people be able to help their friends in their life or they connect their friends to us. And I think it's very like it's an interwoven community, rather than like a linear relationship.
Alexander Wicken
And I think that's one of the things the GSC has been working on throughout the past couple of years that's really culminating with the pride rep program.
Daphne Ballesteros
I guess the type of legacy that I hope to leave behind is like one of like inclusion and just like a safe space for all people, especially for like people of color. Because I know a lot of people of color are starting to be a little more hesitant about going to the center, but leaving it, that it is a safe space for everybody.
Daphne Ballesteros
You can use this, you can take up the space and like knowing that if you have the passion for any thing related to the GSC, there will be someone there to support you even if they're not like one of the administrators. There's a student there and just be like, Hey, there is something that you can do and there is a place for you.
Alexander Wicken
Before coming to Brandeis, I didn't really feel like I felt like I belonged somewhere. And like Brandeis has become my home. And more than that, like with this year, like the GSC has become my home in his writing, which album really encapsulates the feeling of community and the feeling of home. And I think within Tuesdays with Morrie that's contextualized at Brandeis and I think that's really what brought me here.
Alexander Wicken
When I was leaving high school, I was looking for home. And I mean, three years later, Brandeis is my home.