Lauren Poythress [sophomore major in Black World Studies; Psychology, pre-law program, Class of 2020]: So our job as the students who replied to this email, came out to the meetings, was kind of to start from scratch in terms of what the purpose of the club was, what our exec positions were going to be, our constitution. And so after we figured all that out, what our purpose was, that we wanted to promote diversity, that we wanted to build this community of Bridges students once they're here at Miami, was kind of what everyone said what positions they wanted to be.

In high school I had leadership positions, and I just really feel strongly about promoting diversity wherever I am, whether that be race, or gender, sexual orientation, whatever that might be. I think it's — it's one of the reasons I chose Miami, in terms of I want to make a difference.

How diverse Miami is culturally and racially in every different way, I wanted to be a part of being able to show other people that part of Miami. So I wanted to be President, I wanted to make a difference, I kind of wanted to help see it through, so it was kind of a vote amongst ourselves. Our advisor left it up to us to work it out amongst ourselves, and that’s kind of how the committees were created, too — who was passionate about what. And I was kind of passionate about all of them, so I kind of wanted to oversee it.

Being able to work with people, and also the leadership opportunities, having experience with different types of people, with different personalities, learning in each of the different clubs, and even in FYRE — you're in a group of people as first-years you haven't met before and you don't really know, but you have to come up with this idea, and obviously you all are very different people, kind of have different ideas, but working together to come up with a solution to something or coming up with a plan definitely will help me in the future, and the more experience I can get solving those problems that may occur, will help me in law school and in my future careers.

[March 2018]