Jonathan Jackson ’19: “The opponent to being able to feel like you belong is the feeling of alienation. So, to belong somewhere is feeling a complete wholeness in the self. What we have been sort of grappling with on campus, and in the world, is this: Are we looking for acceptance, or are we looking for tolerance?” — More about Jonathan
I Belong
The “I Belong” campaign asked students to describe, through photography and in their own words, their sense of belonging at Amherst. See the photos and read the students’ words on these pages, or see the exhibitions in the Converse Presidential Hallway and in Frost Library. Sponsored by the Office of Diversity & Inclusion, the photographs were taken by Maria Stenzel & Jonathan Jackson ’19. #AmherstIBelong
SabriAnan Micha ’19: “The QRC is my one safe-haven space. I think that’s where I feel like I belong, mostly. I joke a lot that it’s my second home. I spend a lot of time there.” — More about SabriAnan
Esteban Uceda ’19: “What does ‘belonging’ mean to me? That’s a very important question. The idea of belonging is, or can be—in my case it definitely is—rooted in identities, yes.” — More about Esteban
Tomal Hossein ’17: “The Belong Project is a really appropriate or fitting project. I did something during the photo shoot which was super-specific to how I would practice this sort of music in my own time, in private.” — More about Tomal
Nathan Needham ’18E: “I think it’s about home and seeing that Amherst can become a different type of home for students here. I always relate it back to my military experience—it was six years of my life; it’s natural.” — More about Nathan
Debbie Wen ’19: “My first thought is belonging as in ‘someone’s belongings.’ But my second thought is about belonging on campus or someplace. My sister and I grew up in China, and we moved around a bit in China, living in Kunming and then Beijing.” — More about Debbie
Faith Wen ’19: “I guess what comes to mind, about belonging, is home and family. At least for me, that’s what I belong to the most and the longest. But obviously right now I’m not at my home, nor am I completely surrounded by my family.” — More about Faith
Christopher Lewis ’19: “I think the first thing that I think of when I think of the word belong (and I’m not sure if this is a biased perception, but not being a citizen of this country) is: I want to feel like I belong somewhere.” — More about Christopher
Aahnix Bathurst-Williams ’19: “I feel like belonging is associated with feeling at home, but it’s not necessarily the same. I feel like you can belong somewhere where you don’t necessarily feel at home.” — More about Aahnix
Nayah Mullings ’17: “When I think about belonging, I think about being honored and celebrated, and loved, and supported, and challenged in my fullness. Amir’s someone who will do all of those things in my fullness, so taking in all of my identities, taking in all of the places, even though he doesn’t know everything I’ve been through in life or everything, every path that I’ve walked on.” — More about Nayah
Amir Hall ’17: “When I think belonging, I immediately thought of fitting, you know? I thought of family, yeah, but I was also interested in how we fit outside of that, because it’s kind of a given once you come into a family.” — More about Amir
Spencer Quong ’18: “I have written my thesis a little bit about my connection to my home, since I kind of have a complicated relationship with it. I left at pretty young age for a boarding school. I was back this summer for the first time in a long time.” — More about Spencer
Lauren Tuiskula ’17: “Over the course of going into my fifth year here, I’ve seen that, even within small-group belongings, there’s a way that all those smaller groups work together to create a larger scale of belonging.” — More about Lauren
Irisdelia Garcia ’18: “This is a school rooted in systemic issues, because of its background, because of who it originally served. When this school was made, it did not think of people like me. I wasn’t even a thought; I wasn’t even an idea.” — More about Irisdelia
