Happy New Year everyone!!!! Welcome to our third AAMP newsletter and our steps into the new semester! We hope that everyone has been able to enjoy time with loved ones, take a break, and just enjoy the little pleasantries life has to offer. Before we start our next semester we wanted to offer up this little newsletter recapping our last few events of last semester and add a note to prepare for the next one!
On December 1st, Hanah, Emrys, Amara, and Zheous hosted AAMP snack! They made indomie ramen and turon, and we hope you all enjoyed it! There will be many more AAMP snacks to get excited and ready for this next semester, feel free to even recommend personal preferences to your mentors for when they do their next snack!!
Also, Thursday (12/8), we had a hot cocoa and study night, hosted by the Heal.comm committee. Thank you to everyone who showed up and we hope you had a great time!
Thank you to the head mentors for bringing AAMP together and their months of dedication to make AAMP the safe, open place it is now! We are really excited to get this next semester going with more events and time to share together!
Finally, one of our head mentors wanted to share a little reflection on the semester here:
“Hello! My name is Matthew Gonzales, one of the three AAMP heads, and in the spirit of the end of the semester as well as the overall vibe of senior year I felt that a reflection was in order. Coming into my time with AAMP I honestly had no clue on what to expect. Having been a mentor during the 2020-21 year, my time as a mentor was virtual. Coupled with the recovery all mentor groups have been experiencing with the aggravation of administrative pressures and lack of perceived institutional support, finding a foundation was difficult. But, I soon found all my fears washed away with the introduction to the group of mentors that all our mentees have come to know. It has been truly inspiring to see the tenacity and care for the community that this cohort of mentors has shown. In the face of obstacles previously unknown to AAMP and with the balance of life, family, education, and career they have shown every intention to place their community as a priority. Their efforts to plan a full day Fall retreat (with accompanying workshops & bouncy house) organize events such as our annual Untold Stories and infamous karaoke Intergen dinners, their biweekly AAMP snacks, and their individual AAMP group activities their commitment to their community members has been clear. A commitment that has left me in many ways encouraged at the future of this campus.
This isn’t to say that there haven't been struggles. I’ve noticed how AAMP is used to filling a bigger footprint so to speak, but mentorship and campus life as a whole has changed since the pandemic. Furthermore, as AAMP continues to build back there are still prevalent issues of addressing the environment we are facilitating. Specifically, how we counteract the “East Asianess” and class differences that can sometimes seep their way into our spaces. And while this will not be an issue solved overnight, let alone in a year, once again I am reminded of how amazing our mentors are. To see them discuss, attempt to address, and make the concerted efforts to create space for those who would want AAMP to become their own is inspiring. While in no way will I be able to fully encapsulate the raw emotion and feelings of what has been an incredibly turbulent semester for all (especially AAMP). I’d like to leave with a sentiment expressed by Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci, one that I might even share in my thesis (lol). It is the phrase “Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will.” It can become all too easy to intellectualize, to look at all our own flaws as well as points of improvement and fixate. However, while I am not saying AAMP or that I am perfect by any means, the will of our mentors has given me hope. Hope that there is a future for Pomona, its students, and the people that make up AAMP to feel safe and comfortable. I look forward to next semester, and to seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces as they too discover that hope and optimism”
Thank you to all the mentors who helped create all the fun AAMP activities and put in so much time to make sure the mentees had a great first-semester experience! And finally, thank you to all the mentees for being a part of AAMP, we are all excited to see y’all soon! Happy new year, this next semester will be a great one!