Patricia Winston
SUNY Cortland
Anthropology/Social Philosophy major Patricia Winston has been active in equity leadership roles at SUNY Cortland, beginning in her first classes. She voiced the needs of underrepresented populations during discussions in her World First learning community classes. Then, as an Introduction to Cultural Anthropology teaching assistant in her sophomore year, she taught portions of the class, helping students to understand global concerns from students’ own individual perspectives. As a Residence Hall Assistant in her junior year, she incorporated diversity and inclusivity into programming for her residence hall’s students. In the following year, she conducted diversity presentations to freshman students through SUNY Cortland’s Multicultural Life and Diversity Office. She strengthened her understanding of global equity issues by studying in India, where she continued learning about, and leading on, issues of equity.
Personal Statement
This pandemic has sprouted a series of events involving the murders of black men and women that took people, including myself, to the streets to fight for justice for the lives that we lost. We will continue to protest, speak out about the injustices, and vote in efforts to one day make a huge change within our society. That, in all, is my motivation to continue to educate myself and others about diversity and inclusivity within our school. As a result, working as a resident assistant at SUNY Cortland for four semesters, I have used my platform to speak about issues such as the Black lives Matter movement, the LGBTQ+ community and overall having empathy and care for others. I also worked for the Multicultural Life and Diversity office, being a peer diversity presenter in 2019. I will always be a voice within our community by continuing to be a peer mentor for the MLDO, participate with the Black Lives Matter movement group located in Cortland, and continue to educate myself to be a vessel for other young college students who wish to be a part of the change that will make this world a better place for all people.
