The above picture describes one of the most significant experiences I have been a part of here at SMU. It amazes me how these group of students- who sat with me in chamber every Tuesday from 3:30pm-6:00pm- could teach me so much. As a member of the SMU 102nd student senate, I have learned what it means to thoroughly know and defend my positions, build coalitions, create change, and to speak up for others. In the 2015-2016 school year, I have had the pleasure of completing my term as a transfer student senator. Along with my responsibilities as a transfer senator, I was honored to work with seven other diverse student organizations that represent various cultures on campus.
It took me at least a semester to find “my” organization: an organization that put my passion to create change and my desire to connect with others to good use. When I first came to SMU, looking at the 250+ organizations on campus, I thought it would be nearly impossible to find something that would make me feel at home. I thought I was the anomaly transfer student who had to be an outsider. That was not the case! My psychology degree sister has a theory of the feeling of being an anomaly. She calls it the theory of singularity. It is the phenomenon in which people think that they are the only one who feel a certain way, do something a specific way, etc. In reality, that is seldom the case.
In college you find people that are just as geeky about culture as you are, students that care about lighting, parking, dinning, academic issues on campus, and most importantly passionate individuals that are as serious about becoming a world changer as you are. It is with these people that you find your home away from home. It is here that you discover that you are not an anomaly.
-Keya Tollossa