Tatty's Travels

As a 2020 freshman entering college, finding your community of like-minded students was more difficult then I could’ve been prepared for. My first year living on campus was my sophomore year and I got to join the La Casa Latina theme house, a community living in a townhouse focused on uplifting the Latinx community within Drew University. At first I was sold because it had it’s own kitchen, but after my first month living there I created friendships that truly supported me throughout my first year of in-person classes. The theme house also is in charge of hosting four events for the Drew community per semester and having weekly intentional community nights to curate community within residents. My second year in La Casa, I was the Housing Assistant. I looked forward to hosting the weekly community nights and each meeting each person would make a snack/food to share – #1 night was birria tacos night. From my time as HA, I grew interest in residing in La Casa Latina from four people to having over fifteen applicants wanting to be apart of the community resulting in relocating into the largest townhouse on campus. I also was award Housing Assistant of the Month (January 2023) and Housing Assistant of the Year Award (2023-2024).

As a Fellow in the America Needs You Mentorship Program I committed to a two-year professional development curriculum. This program is dedicated to uplifting first-generation low-income college students and I was recommended the program by an upperclassman in my EOF program. In this program, my first year I dedicated every other Saturday to attending workshops that targeted problem solving issues first generation students face throughout college. I was also assigned a mentor that assisted me in resume building, interview skills, and a person I can rely on for feedback to improve my position as an applicant. By my second year, our monthly sessions truly were focused on sharing experiences and building our resumes with internships. My experience with ANY was unique but I do appreciate everything it’s taught me.

As a college student in New Jersey, I qualified as an EOF student. Through this program I got selected to attend a summer program before my freshman year that built on skills from my high school to best prepare for the start of fall semester classes. Though it was remote, I developed interpersonal skills and got to learn physics, psychology, and shape up my writing skills. This program served as a mentorship, so upon entering I knew I had a community of other EOF students to connect with. I did end up working as an assistant in their office where I was able to serve as a mentor to incoming EOF students by leading workshops with presentations. They ranged from advise on dealing with procrastination, to dealing with imposter syndrome, to study tips. Though my participation in this community varied on what other commitments I juggled, I would’ve have been able to go through college without the support of Drew’s EOF department. With their support I was nominated and received the Outstanding Achievement Award and was recognized state-wide.

As a Drew Action Scholar (DAS) I committed to completing 100 hours of community service each year throughout my undergraduate experience. The first year, we were split up into groups to find an issue our society was dealing with and research solutions. My group was developed out of the desire to see change in the prison industry. We focused on how rehabilitation institutions would be a better alternative for most inmates which is more affordable for the economy as well as giving inmates a better chance of adapting when their sentence ends. After the first year, my final three years I completed my volunteer hours through professional development programs such as ANY and other events that Drew was holding. I also volunteered with VoteForward and as an elementary school tutor (even though remote tutoring was a struggle). My extra curricular participation also assisted in reaching the 100 yearly volunteer hours goal.

Throughout high school, I involved myself more into creative outlets then being involved in Student Government organizations. When I entered school, I questioned why I never tried it and went ahead and ran from Freshman Senator and was one of the two elected to serve in that position! I helped bring attention to issues first year students were experiences as remote students due to the pandemic. The following year, I was sworn in as the Attorney General for the Fall Semester (August 2021 – December 2021). Throughout that tenure, I got to assist in educating newly sworn in Senators on Daniel’s Dictionary and helped the language in each bill to reflect the Senator’s desired outcome.

Following this position I was nominated to be Chief Financial Officer from January 2022 – December 2022. In this position I managed the Student Government Budget for the cabinet and committees while also being the chair of the Budgets and Organizations Board (BOB). As BOB chair, within the first month, I successfully onboarded the optimal number of participants needed to operate effectively. I trained them on their role in BOB and as club liaisons ensuring members understood their responsibility to BOB and as club liaisons, rebuilding trust and communication with club leadership. Our team restructured the club budget allocation process, prioritizing simplicity and effectiveness to improve participation in the system instead of relying on the Ad-Hoc funds. My objectives following this was to shift operations to in-person and developing a five-star rating program to ease the allocation process. As a team, BOB created incentives to get each club to want to participate which held clubs accountable for meeting their minimum event per semester rating, building up participation, and having impactful events on the Drew community.

As Match Secretary, my role was to create game schedules for the 15s and 7s season. I worked alongside other team match secretaries especially during 7s seasons to create a cohesive playing schedule. In addition to this, i coordinated buses, booked referees and managed their payments. As a club team we were allocated a yearly program budget that I managed and ensured our playing needs were covered. Alongside being match secretary I played with my team from August 2021 – March 2022 until I got injured – still mentally recovering but I’ve joined some practices to get back into it – this can be me being delusional though haha.

As Drew FIRST President, my goal was restructuring the club to be able to create events for other first generation students. After restructuring, our club board members were able to successfully have a panel of other first generation students that had graduated. It was a very successful networking and advise panel event!