Student affairs trainings promote empathy, connection
Nearly 250 members of the Citrus College community have completed trainings to help them understand and support a variety of vulnerable student populations.
The Citrus College Student Affairs Division now offers ally and student support trainings focused on five specific groups: basic needs students, dreamers (or undocumented students), foster youth, the LGBTQ+ community and student veterans. Next fall, they will add a sixth group to the trainings: first-generation students.
"There is a lot to learn about our students, especially the most vulnerable among them. Knowing how to better support them should be important to every employee," said Dr. Maryann Tolano-Leveque, dean of students. "Together, we can make a difference and create a welcoming campus culture for all students."
The first ally training was offered in May 2019 when student affairs identified a need for the college community to have a better understanding of the undocumented student population. Since that time, the trainings have expanded to include additional student populations.
The ally trainings begin with an overview of the population in question. They also discuss the challenges specific to the population, review intersectionality and what it means, identify personal privileges and how they relate to the struggles of the population, learn about appropriate community resources, examine what being an ally means and explore how to be a good ally. After completing a training, each participant is given an ally sticker to display in their office.
"Not many colleges offer trainings like these," said Dr. Tolano-Leveque. "There has been a lot of interest in learning about these groups at Citrus College. In fact, there was so much interest that we hosted two ally training days during the winter 2020 session and many participants encouraged us to do it again."
In the future, student affairs is hoping to host one ally training per month during the fall and spring semesters. They would also like to continue hosting all-day trainings during the winter session.
This article originally appeared in the April 2020 edition of the Citrus View.