Meet The DEI: Alonté Cross

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 13:38:09 -0400
diversity, leadership, mosaic, student-life, umbc

Alonté is a transfer student in his first semester at UMBC, studying Media and Communication Studies. In addition to his studies and working in The Mosaic Center as a Diversity Educator Intern and Office Assistant, Alonté is a photographer for The Retriever Weekly and President of the Community Action Board through the Resident Student Association in Patapsco Hall.

Alonté currently operates an independent digital media production company called Five-Star Media Studio and uses social media to empower and inspire others. Alonté hopes to be an innovative force
in the media industry and eventually use his experiences and creative works to educate others.

*The Diversity Educator Interns are undergraduate and graduate students who co-facilitate cross-cultural and diversity awareness discussions and educational workshops across campus.

Q. What made you get involved with The Mosaic Center as a Diversity Educator Intern?

A. I knew that I wanted to get involved in diversity programs and thanks to “myUMBC spotlights” the opportunity found me.

Q. What's your favorite moment as a DEI so far?

A. My favorite moment so far is definitely my first co-facilitation of the year, being able to see the content and activities in action was great. It was a learning experience for me too.

Q. What has surprised you most about working in a Center for Culture and Diversity?

A. The wide number of diversity related student orgs we have is most surprising, along with the number of students we have here that identify with them.

Q. Do you find anything challenging about being a DEI? If so, explain.

A. I found it particularly challenging to engage students in a P.E. class at 8:30 in the morning. But I'm working on ways to ramp up the energy for future early workshops.

Q. What might someone be surprised to know about you?

A. I think people might be surprised that I have "the moves" on the dance floor. I'm a Moonwalkatician.

Q. What's it like to be a Diversity Educator Intern for The Mosaic Center?

A. Being a Diversity Educator Intern is an unparalleled experience. While we are meant to educate, I think that each step we take in that process reveals more about people and the way we communicate in a diverse environment. "To teach is to learn."

Q. When you aren’t performing DEI duties, what are you most likely doing?

A. Blogging (http://alontecross.com/), tweeting (@AlonteCross), taking photos, designing photos/graphics, listening to music and whistling to it.

Q. How would (someone) describe you?

A. Someone might describe me as a "nice guy." I've been told that I'm a great listener, a master "reassurer"/comforter, as well as funny and talented.

Q. What do you wish other people knew about The Mosaic Center?

A. I wish people knew how open this center is to literally just chill and get to know new people, let alone all of the different resources and programs we offer.

Q. What would you say are some of your strongest beliefs about diversity?

A. I believe that we as a people have an obligation (moral or however you see it) to learn about things that we don’t understand. We should educate ourselves or seek education on the differences in people that are unfamiliar to us and above all learn to respect them.

Q. What's your personal philosophy on what should be done about promoting communal diversity and inclusion?

A. We should try to see past race, ethnicity and other social identities in order see people for who they are at the core. If there weren’t so many labels and we didn’t attribute one solitary thing to a person we could achieve communal diversity, because it would just be people enjoying one another that just so happen to be [insert race, ethnicity, social identity, etc.]

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Want to know more? Contact mosaic@umbc.edu - to request a workshop for your group or org complete a workshop request form! http://my.umbc.edu/groups/themosaic (form must be submitted at least two weeks in advance)