The Challenge

In order to best serve our students, we need to understand who they are, what their goals are, and what are the barriers that the institution maintains. Looking at the present and future, we need to make sure that we are ready to teach all students and prepare them to be successful human beings that can make meaningful change in their future endeavors.

What we do know is that there are many barriers that exist for our African American and LatinX students that prevent them from participating in experiential learning. Research shows that if we look at participation in XL intersectionally, then students of color, multilingual students, international students, first generation students, Indigenous students, students with disabilities, and students with lower GPAS are underrepresented.

We need to understand the challenges that our students face. Examples of these challenges include:

• Financial problems: Students are no longer looking to fill the role of the traditional full-time learners. Instead, students are often working part-time or full time to support their families. Resources for transportation, clothing, student fees, etc. can be barriers, and so can previous work commitments that the XL opportunity may take away from them. This is exacerbated if the XL opportunity is unpaid.

• Difficulty searching and finding resources on campus. It is really important to redesign the university website and make it more organized.

• Lack of effective communication with students. Many classes have more than 100 students in each section. This is a huge challenge for effective communication between the faculty and students.

• Mental health and wellness: Many studies show that African American and LatinX students face mental health challenges.

• Invisible bias in grading the assignments and the exams.

• Transportation

• The vast majority of academic institutions were not created with our student population in mind. Additionally, they weren't created with the idea that each person who walks

In short, any experiential learning opportunity that lacks flexibility and hasn't been designed with inclusivity and accessibility is mind reinforces systems of inequity.