How I Started My Own Student Org
with Cristina Villa-Huerta
The NSE Leader and senior secondary education major from Lincoln writes about her experience making Future Teachers of Color a recognized student organization (RSO) on campus. She currently serves as the organization’s president.
Finding a community on campus was one of my top priorities when I began college.
I was looking to join a multicultural organization to maintain a connection with my culture. I was also interested in finding something that related to my future goal of becoming a teacher. My scholarship advisor introduced me to a group on campus called Future Teachers of Color (FTOC.) It was the perfect organization for what I was looking for, and I was so surprised to find such a specific group that perfectly combined two of my interests.
From the first social event I attended, I knew instantly I belonged there. It was a great opportunity to introduce myself to the group, meet new peers in my college and meet Dr. Amanda Morales, who was the sponsor of the group. Through this, I’d learned that FTOC was not a recognized student organization (RSO). Finding this group meant a lot to me because I immediately found a community at UNL with people that shared similar identities and passions, and I wanted to help others find that as well.
My peers and I recognized the importance of being an RSO on campus, and we immediately knew we had to change FTOC’s status. Legitimizing FTOC as an RSO would provide the benefits that we needed to promote our group and effectively spread our mission. It allowed us to officially book spaces on campus to host events and meetings, have access to a Student Organization Financial Services (SOFS) account to fund our events and promote our group through UNL’s organization portal, NvolveU.
After many discussions with the group, we wanted to hit the ground running to establish FTOC on campus. We set up meetings with the Student Leadership, Involvement, and Community Engagement (SLICE) office to lay the foundation for officially becoming an RSO. The university did a great job of providing support for whatever we needed, such as helping us revise our constitution, guiding us through orientation training for our officers, and helping us advertise our social events to College of Education and Human Sciences (CEHS) students. Connecting with the SLICE office and all the behind-the-scenes work to create FTOC wouldn’t have been possible without the help of Dr. Morales. She provided us with all the support we needed by using her network to advertise our group’s mission on campus and fostering a strong bond between herself and the group.
Future Teachers of Color is the strongest it’s ever been. With a continuously growing membership and a brand-new executive team, we’re excited to continue our work of promoting the significance of diversity in education and inspiring future educators of color. Our mission is to provide incoming and continuing Black, Indigenous, & Students of Color (BIPoC) in CEHS space for engagement, mentorship, leadership and professional development opportunities, critical reflection, support, and community building with other BIPoC students in CEHS. We invite everyone to join us for our social events to foster community among CEHS students and find a multicultural space to engage with at Nebraska.
To stay up to date, follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
