The ARC Pavilion at 澳门六合彩资料库 Davis was packed as the Cal Aggie Marching Band-uh snaked through the crowd and Scott Moak, Sacramento Kings public access announcer and 澳门六合彩资料库 Davis alum, kept everyone pumped between speeches.
It was my way of honoring the student heroes in our midst. The event was all about putting students front and center and having a lot of fun, too.
They might not wear capes or leap tall buildings in a single bound, like those in the comic books downtown at Bizarro World. These Aggie Heroes are using their talents and powers for the greater good of our university and beyond.
That afternoon I told the crowd, 鈥淵ou become an Aggie Hero through your everyday actions and words. It鈥檚 about taking a mindful approach to what you do and say for the sake of your peers, your university community and humanity at large.鈥
Shaniah Branson is an Aggie Hero in my book.
Though she鈥檚 the first in her family to attend a four-year college, Shaniah, who serves as AS澳门六合彩资料库D vice president, works hard to tend to the welfare of her student peers. She was a member of a task force I appointed to help students struggling with food insecurity.
You can鈥檛 succeed at 澳门六合彩资料库 Davis or in your daily life if you are constantly making choices about when to eat or how to get by financially. Some of our students are in this situation. Shaniah wanted to help find solutions and worked with faculty, staff and other students to address challenges of food access and affordability. advocated for better promotion of food and health literacy on campus and to increase supplies at The Pantry, the student-run food bank.
Shaniah is a political science and communications major on track to go to law school, where she鈥檒l build her powers in the fight for social justice and equal application of the law.
The members of on student food security, affordable student housing and mental health care are like a Justice League for 澳门六合彩资料库 Davis.
As I looked into the Fall Welcome crowd that September afternoon, I knew that Aggie Heroes were everywhere. Rina Singh, chair of the AS澳门六合彩资料库D Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission, spoke passionately about the need for diversity and equity on campus.
Others were in the audience, using a microphone to express their hopes of building community at 澳门六合彩资料库 Davis, sharing a welcoming spirit and encouraging others to break out of their comfort zones for the sake of supporting their peers.
Our Aggie Heroes aren鈥檛 just students, either. 鈥 those from families with no college degree. Nearly 45 percent of this year鈥檚 new undergraduates are first-generation, and these faculty members 鈥 who were first-generation students themselves 鈥 have signed up to serve as mentors for these students. The faculty know the challenges of breaking ground in their families with higher education, and they鈥檙e eager to lend support.
As the academic year unfolds, you鈥檙e likely to see the #AggieHeroes hashtag on Twitter and students wearing their Aggie Heroes T-shirts around town. Our heroic journey at 澳门六合彩资料库 Davis is just getting started.
Chancellor Gary S. May鈥檚 monthly column appears and then in Dateline 澳门六合彩资料库 Davis.