^{“Often I hear from students a sense of feeling like they're alone in the classroom, perhaps feeling that some of their peers don't share the experiences or the backgrounds that they had. At the same time, what I have seen over and over again is students tend to be more resourceful and able to figure out how to navigate structures relatively quickly. Because in some ways, unfortunately, they had to do that. And I kind of relate, when I was a student of color, trying to really figure out, is this a space that's safe? How do I get that resource? Who do I talk to?”}

Learning and growing is best done in community.

Loretta Kyoungjin Park

Loretta Kyoungjin Park is Director of First Generation Pathways in the Office of Justice, Equity, and Transformation at MassArt. In her role, she manages the Compass program, which supports first-generation students from Massachusetts.

Loretta shared with us the structural and personal moves she uses to create community and help students find peers – from making the first year Compass program credit-earning, to titrating her individual connectedness, to the importance of snacks! She creates models that acknowledge the value of students’ time and meet them where they’re at; at the same time, she nurtures the openness and safety that allow for organic relationships.

Loretta reminded us that learning and growing is best done in community.

^{The project: In our program mapping the professional journeys of BIPOC folks in creative careers across Greater Boston, MassArt came up a lot. We were glad to have the chance to speak with Loretta (and her colleagues) about the work the college has done to be a student-ready campus. We also had the opportunity to learn more about her own creative career journey. You can follow along with Loretta’s practice here.}