AACC’s Belonging, Academic Success and Community cohort, or BAC, hosted a civic showcase on March 11 featuring student-made projects about how identity can relate to power and privilege. 

Students around campus gathered in the Health and Life Sciences Building to view infographics, pamphlets, artwork and slide shows about their identities. Some chose to focus on their race, gender, sexuality or heritage, for example. 

“Most of us created an infographic explaining the identity we decided to showcase, and our opinions [on] what we’ve learned about power and privilege,” first-year trade school student Alexander Araujo said. “Then we connect that all together.” 

The BAC cohort is part of professor Antione Tomlin’s English 101 and 102 courses. Tomlin and his students host three civic showcases and one research project with a public showing every semester.

With the cohort, Tomlin aims to bring awareness through student engagement to topics like race, gender identity, power and privilege, he said. 

First-year transfer student Isaiah Harlee created a pamphlet and slide show to express the power and privilege he sees in his identity. 

“It’s an extension of myself,” Harlee said. “I made this with myself in mind. I used myself to create this. I used my own experiences, my own identity being a black male. … I put myself into this project.”

Tomlin pointed out the project of cohort member Zion Banks, a second-year transfer studies student.

She painted a portrait of her younger self adorned with flowers in her hair. Viewers could remove the flowers, which contained thought-provoking questions. Then they could glue the flowers back on, a “full circle moment,” Tomlin said. 

The cohort’s goal is for students to learn to use their voice, Tomlin said.

“Continue using their voices.,” Tomlin said. “To be proud of it. Use your voice because it matters.”