You're listening to the Spartan orientation station on Impact eighty nine FM, the podcast by students for students. Now this week's episode.
Welcome back to the Spartan orientation station. On this week's episode, we will be discussing the Mosaic Center for Education and Outreach. Hi. My name is Kirsten. I'm a student coordinator at the NSO office.
And I'm Jonah. I'm also a student coordinator at the NSO office. Joining us today are Charlie, Leslie, and Ellie from the Mosaic Center team. Thanks for joining us.
Thanks. Thank you for having us. Could we
start off by just having you guys introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about what you do at Mosaic?
Yeah. I can start. My name is Charlie. My pronouns are he, him, and his. I'm currently serving as the director for the Mosaic Center for Education and Outreach.
Hi, everyone. My name is Ellie Anders Thompson. I am the inaugural assistant director for religious, spiritual, and secular identities at the Mosaic Center for Education and Outreach.
Hi, everybody. My name is Leslie Morales. I use they, them, ella pronouns, and I am the woman and gender equity coordinator at Mosaic.
Great. Well, thank you guys again for joining us. Can you talk a little bit about how Mosaic promotes intersectionality here on campus, and what former departments does Mosaic comprise of?
Yeah. That's a great question. In my mind, I feel the Mosaic Center for Education and Outreach is a space for student to learn and engage outside of the classroom. You asked about the intersectionality is really thinking about one's students' multiple social identities outside of the classroom that they can engage in space. You know, it is our hope we, at the Mosaic, can usher that space for student to feel that they belong into the space and at the same time, we're recognizing of their whether it's religious, spiritual, secular identity, their gender identity, or their care about the social issues globally or locally.
When I think about intersectionality as it's related to RSSI or religious, spiritual, or secular identities, I like to use the language around worldview. I use worldview as a substitute for RSSI often because it's a little bit more inclusive in my mind. Worldview is comprised sometimes of religious, spiritual, or secular worldviews, but it can include anyone from atheist to zoastrian. And also a really fast growing affiliation within that worldview is multiple religious belonging. And so giving people the opportunity to explore their worldview identity and come up with something we called a self authored worldview is one of those opportunities that we wanna work on in our office.
Yeah. So with my office, so women and gender equity, we're committed to gender equity and leadership through initiatives that center that intersection. This is done through, like, the WILD conference, which is the woman's initiative for leadership development. And students and the community are able to be a part of that committee and kind of tailor what workshops they want to see, what type of activism they wanna see, and who do they wanna invite to speak. So the unit will provide education initiatives that advance women and gender equity.
The wage used to be women's student services, and women's student services has been located in the basement of Student Services Building. But with this new department unit, we will actually be moving into the Second Floor of the union. And not only will my office be there, all of us will be there.
So it seems like Mosaic offers support to a very wide range of students, but what specific resources can they get from Mosaic?
We're specifically thinking about three key initiatives that we can offer for our students, particularly for new students coming into the space and the caregivers and with the hope that offering to our community members is what Leslie mentioned earlier is the women and gender equity. And Ellie also alluded to worldviews over the religious, spiritual, and secular identities, as well as help students to explore the global social issues and education outreach in that front.
Yeah. If I can add a little bit, I would say more specifically, what kinds of support does Mosaic offer to students from my office? It would be like menstrual health products. It would be leadership workshops that center the intersections of folks, but that also look at it through a feminist, womanist, anti racist lens. And not only that, it's community, right?
So like, what does support look like? Well, support looks like community and building that community. And oftentimes, it's these new students that are coming to this huge institution and they don't know what's going on. And so our hope is that our office will be this one space for students to come bond and build that community.
I've been thinking a lot about the Mosaic Center and what its specific resources and support it offers. One of the things that I've read recently is a lot about spaces. You have your home, you have your own living room, and you probably have, like, in for college, you probably have, like, a workout space or a coffee shop that you like. And then what's the space? Like, what's another space that's kind of like a home away from home?
And creating that opportunity to find community, to find opportunities for conversations across lines of difference, to build bridges, and to have deep and meaningful conversations. When I think about intersectionality and the resources that you need to get to that, that often looks like shared values. And so what does it look like to investigate the values that come with your different identities? And how can Mosaic be a space that offers those opportunities? Absolutely.
Well, it sounds like there's a lot of great ways for your students to get involved with you guys. But on more of a leadership level, are there opportunities for students to lead, collaborate, or create programming through Mosaic? And could you share some events Mosaic hosts throughout the year that students should look out for?
Things that are gonna be offered through RSSI, religious, spiritual, and secular identity programming, will likely be brand new. One of the things that I'm super excited about, though, is working with the Campus Interfaith Council. That's an organization, a CAMS group, that's actually existed in the past, but I'm have this wonderful chance to advise them this year. And so one of the things that they're excited about doing is in the fall is an interfaith field day. What would it look like to create interfaith teams and tie dye t shirts, and then the next day get together and do tug of war or egg toss or those classic field day events.
They're super excited about the opportunity to plan that this fall. Another maybe more serious opportunity that might come around religious and spiritual identities is a celebration of the International Day of Peace. On September 21, the United Nations acknowledges International Day of Peace every year. And I am not entirely sure what that might look like for us. We do have an alumni chapel that might be a good opportunity.
We also have a peace pole in People's Park that might be a good way to honor that holiday. But that shared value of searching for peace is one of the hopeful opportunities that I'm looking forward to this coming year and maybe creating this new annual programming.
Awesome. Thank you for sharing, Ellie. As far as Wage, different events that students can get in involved in, especially in the fall are FemFest. So Fem Fest is a celebration of feminism within the arts. We also hire students to perform.
So definitely look for that on Handshake. We also have the WILD workshop. So again, as I mentioned before, WILD, the woman's initiative for leadership development, is very student led. So students are welcome to come into the committee. They meet once biweekly or once a month, depending on when the conference is, and they're the ones leading that, while I guide them and other folks guide them, but they're the leaders in that.
So that's definitely a great opportunity for them to develop their leadership skills. For Women's History Month in March, that's also we work with Women's Council, and that is another CAMS group. So, for folks that don't know what CAMS is, CAMS is the Council for the Advocacy of Marginalized Students. And so WOCO is Women's Council, and we partner during Women's History in March to just bring about different programmings during that month and and bringing awareness to different issues. But those are just amongst some of the opportunities that we have.
If students hear this podcast and they are interested in the current events or events that could potentially be planned throughout this school year, What are ways that they could connect with Mosaic to see when those events would be happening or what those events are?
Check us out at the Second Floor Union. When students are at the union, we will post our events or we're planning to post our events on our bulletin boards and as well as come and visit. We have a lounge, we call the Harmony Lounge, that student can just hang out and really just, you know, stay connected with us. And we do have a multipurpose room, and we have a work space space that student can come and enter and just enjoy community within our space.
So the best way for students to get in contact with the campus interfaith council is m s u underscore c I c and see the postings on our Instagram account. It posted when we were looking for new leaders, and we will continue to post for opportunities to participate in the programs as well as when leadership applications come open again in the spring of next year.
For WAGE, you can stay in contact by following our Instagram or our TikTok. Our Instagram handle is women's student services MSU. It is long. I'm so sorry, but it's the only one there. So women's student services MSU on Instagram, and we always post about events.
And also if there's any folks, you know, this is for, the new students. If any new students go and join a club and they would like for our office to share their information, we would gladly do that. And we also have a a newsletter, a weekly newsletter that's more active during the fall and the spring as for the summer kind of take a little break. But they're also able to enroll in that newsletter and and stay up to date with what we're doing.
Do you guys have any advice for any students who are looking for a community or a sense of belonging at MSU?
Yeah. I think I can I can take the answer as I recently graduated in 2022, and I was a student leader here as well? And so advice for students. So college is a time to step out of your comfort zones and grow. If it feels a little awkward, then that means you're growing.
It's okay. Do all the things because one, you never know what doors are open if you never knock. And two, you miss a 100% of the shots you do not take. Those are similar, but I just needed to say it again just so that people understand. So explore, get to know yourself.
This is this is a chance to know yourself out of your home, out of other folks' expectations, and overall, remember that your community is out there, but you have to take some steps to meet them where they're at. So you need to get out there and find them, join the organizations, join the groups, and through that, you're gonna find your community.
There are 82 religious, spiritual, and secular identity registered student organizations at Michigan State University, which is a huge number of organizations that are out there for students to get involved in. And I think sometimes the best way to find community is to be community and to say, I'm willing to do a little bit of extra to put together meetings or to get together room reservation or to come to the Union Building, to the Mosaic Center so that I can find Ellie so that we can figure out how to start another new organization. I know that there are a lot, but there's always room for more communities. I always say I'm from Texas, so I always say there's always room for another seat at the table. And so I'm excited about the opportunity for students to come into the space and to explore things that, like Leslie already said, I would say going to meetings that aren't necessarily with the religious, spiritual, or secular community that you grew up in, that's a really great way to make yourself just a little uncomfortable.
You can always invite a friend to go with you and invite them to come to yours.
If I were to reflect back as a year student coming to a huge college space and as a shy person and trying to find community, I would say, it's okay to start slow. Everybody has a different pace. So for me, thinking about from a beautiful mosaic, right, the way that each of the tiles various, uniqueness to it. And this is what's so beautiful about MSU. We have 50,000 population coming from 150 countries.
And each of the organization that Ellie and Leslie described or the organization about to be formed or, you know, yet to be formed are really just helping for a student to be successful having a collegiate experience outside the classroom. And so we're having someone who may be shy like me, perhaps thinking about getting to know your roommate. If you're living on campus, getting to know Impact eighty nine FM to see how, you know, some of these radio stations that we're doing on campus are are really bringing student together and and to recognize the value of what our institution already established in this place, as well as getting involved in the floor living on campus. Right? And so those are the easiest way that's closest to them, as well as then slowly venture out to some of the community that's outside of their living quarters.
Mosaic is in the MSU Student Union. The union is, like Leslie mentioned, is for the students. And so that's one easy way to feel like this is a space for them to be involved.
Yeah. I think that's all great information. I mean, we do certainly have a lot of opportunities here at MSU, but it is definitely something to do at your own pace. Thank you guys again for coming and joining us and talking to us today. Before we let you go though, what is your favorite part about working at MSU or working with MSU students?
You know, this is my twelfth year working at MSU. And what's excites me is I'm learning something new every day and learning from my friends, Ellie and Leslie. And and my most favorite part is really for me to reflect on why I am here at MSU working in this space. It's for me to be an instrument. It helps you and to be successful in their own ways.
My favorite part about working at MSU with the caveat that I just came in in January is how genuinely supported I felt since day one. There's a clear, consistent investment in my personal and professional growth, which makes a real difference. And as a former student leader during my undergraduate years here at MSU, it's been especially meaningful to return and now support today's student leaders because I was in their shoes. So it really feels like it's coming full circle. I think six months in, Leslie, right now, that's my favorite part about working at MSU.
This is my time starting a program for religious, spiritual, and secular identities from the ground up. I was in the Upper Valley Of New Hampshire before this, started a program there, out in Utah, started some programs out there. But this is my time, Michigan State is my time starting a program at a Big Ten school, a school with a football team and a mascot and a marching band. And so, it's a new opportunity. It's a new opportunity to learn about capacity building and bridge building within such a large community.
And so that's one of the great opportunities at being at Michigan State is not only the opportunity to contribute and help build out a new program for religious spiritual and secular identities, but also learn myself as I'm growing in this new environment. Absolutely. Well, we appreciate all of the communities that you guys are building and continue to build for not just
new students, but everyone on campus. And that's gonna wrap us up for today. Thank you again to Mosaic for coming out and hanging out with us, and we'll see you next time. Bye.
Bye. Thank
you for listening to this episode of the Spartan orientation station on Impact eighty nine FM. Let us know what you think by connecting with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram at MSU underscore NSO.