Zara Sibtain
M.Ed. Student in Higher Education Administration
I believe we should embrace diversity. I work with many students and it is important to be accepting and respectful of everyone’s culture. Diversity goes beyond skin color or where someone is from – there is so much more to it and more depth to a person. I was born and raised in Pakistan and was the youngest of three children. The high school I attended had a student body that represented over 60 nationalities, and there were 170 students in my graduating class. This is where my passion for diversity began because the question then was not, “where are you from?”, rather “where all have you been?”
I find the diversity of my classes unique within the School of Education as I am able to take courses with students from Masters and Doctoral programs in different tracks. This allows for more engaging conversations because everyone has different experiences to speak to, and I am able to embrace the idea of diversity. In my experiences working with undergraduate orientation, I am able to create meaningful diversity training to support incoming students. New students come to William and Mary and, although they all have different ideas and backgrounds, it is important to make them feel individually welcomed.
