People of Color Telling Testimonios Unrecognzied

Mission Statement
This is a group where students of color can develop testimonios and autobiographical writings. This group serves students who self-identify as students of color. The PoCTT will accommodate the needs of students of color who are historically underrepresented in higher education. Members have and will continue to benefit greatly from having a support system in place where they can bring their cultural assets to the fore front to help them succeed in academia and as current or future community leaders. This group will serve as a safe space for students of color to speak and write about our lived experiences. This should be a student group and not just a program because it takes time to build relationships in order for us to share sensitive personal experiences and trust one another. This will be a private space where we would develop some sort of contract/understanding of confidentiality as well as respect for other students in the group. For the past school year we have built a community where we feel comfortable enough to write about our experiences as students of color outside of an academic setting. We have been meeting at least once a month to build community. As a result of building community, we have created individual and collective testimonio, some of which we have shared with the larger Hampshire community. We have also been building on the Testimonio genre, by attending academic discussions and film screenings in the five college area. As a result of attending these discussions and screenings, we decided to screen the Precious Knowledge documentary at Hampshire College. The screening and panel discussion for the documentary Precious Knowledge was the first event that we co-sponsored. This was a great experience for us because all of our members helped out with the event planning process. Our members were also part of the panel, and we had the opportunity to share a group testimonio and individual pieces during this event. This was a very successful event that brought together 5 College students, faculty, and staff. This is just an example of the kind of event we will continue to co-sponsor. As a result of our campus involvement, we have been asked to submit our collective digital testimonio for the faculty “Talking about teaching” discussion that is devoted to “Diversity in the Classroom.”