Brotherhood Initiative

Overview

For my senior capstone project I worked with an organization on campus called, the Brotherhood Initiative (BI). During this internship my primary roles included conducting research, helping plan and organize the retreat/orientation and helping outline the mentor/mentee guidelines and expectations. I was here to help improve the efficiency and impact the BI had. This was an amazing experience for me because this was a program, I am also a part of, so I was able to give back to something that contributed towards my success.

Personal Importance of Work

I grew up in a small rural town where I was one of three black students in all K-12 in our school district. I did not have one black teacher growing up and was not surrounded by positive black role models. However, I did have a baseball coach for my tournament team that was black, and he was like a second father figure to me. Entering the UW, I decided to be a part of the BI because I wanted to be surrounded by other black & brown students. It was through this experience that I was able to address toxic masculinity and helped with my transition into UW. However, today I am in a position to be the voice for those who will and have experienced what I did. That in itself lights a fire beneath me to keep growing, learning, and striving to be boundless.

Others' Circumstances: Since the Brotherhood Initiative program is only about 4 years old, there are a lot of growing pains and stages that are happening to make sure this program is best fitting the needs of its students. In part of helping develop and design this mentorship program between cohorts I am having to think outside the box and expand my thinking in order to see how these relationships can both benefit the mentor and mentee. I have to sit back and think about the issue that male students of color are facing at a predominately white institute, and what are the needs and wants that these students are looking to get out of this relationship.

Power dynamics: Working with the BI was one of the first time I was truly working within a team where I did not have the same power as those I was working with. I was on a team that consisted of graduate students and UW staff. I quickly had to learn how to navigate these power dynamics to ensure that my voice was being heard. Whether that was voicing my opinions and concerns on whatever project we were working on. Or making sure that I was getting something out of this capstone project as well. I made sure that a foundation was laid down to begin with and roles were clearly stated.

Lessons Learned and Future Oriented Statement: Through this experienced I learned that I do not enjoy a lot of the behind the scene work nor do I enjoy research. I am an individual who likes to have face to face interactions that is where I thrive. I learned how to work with a team while planning events that translates towards my role in my fraternity as well as any future jobs and experiences that I will have moving forward. I have been able to apply this experience to my personal life as well when it has come to planning out the rest of my undergraduate time and thinking about planning my future. I have been able to leverage my research skills, and communication to reach out to the many different resources I have at my disposal.