On Wednesday, Oct. 25, the Intersectional Women’s Center (IWC) hosted a discussion about dating and relationships in college life.
This is the first intern-led event in the IWC, as the center has only been in operation since Sept. 23, 2022.
The goal of this event was to hear the voices of students in a relaxed and conversational environment and present them with data on topics they might not have considered, with free pizza catering as an additional incentive.
“I feel like in-person discussions are important because bouncing ideas back and forth with other students can spark things that you maybe wouldn’t have thought to bring up or look into without this kind of forum,” Kitana Lin Volbright, fourth-year student intern heading the presentation, said.
Overarchingly, the various discussion points were the main themes of finding happy, healthy and safe relationships in the sometimes volatile digital landscape.
“I think that it’s something a lot of students are already doing and if they’re not learning about it, then there’s a lot of things you can be doing wrong, or that you don’t realize are common experiences,” Volbright said. “It could be something you’re going through that you don’t realize other people are, and you’re not seeking out advice because you don’t know you could be.”
Fourth-year student Gaby de Moya-Cotter said that the information provided by the presentation and the experiences expressed by others attending the event gave her new insights into long-distance relationships.
“I think the Women’s Center just has the vibe that everyone is welcome, and everybody is able to say what’s on their mind,” de Moya-Cotter said.
The event is one of the first of its kind, hosted at the IWC on the third floor of Hibbard.
“I just started as an intern this semester, so it was my first experience doing this. I think that it is a great thing to add to campus because the interns are the students who are involved in what’s going on with students on campus and know more about the experiences that they’re going through,” Volbright said.
She added that the less intimidating environment allowed for a more productive conversation than if students talked to professors or faculty they might not be as comfortable with.
Jeremiah, a fourth-year Latin American studies and women’s, gender and sexuality studies student, is also an intern for the IWC.
“I’m a psych major, and I’m interested in marriage and family therapy, so I already have that drive to help people with relationship aspects, and the curiosity to know what is going on in the dating world and people’s love lives. So that helped drive me to do it,” Jeremiah said.
Jeremiah said each intern plans an event, and at the end of the semester, he will be organizing an event on immigrant women and the nature of assimilation.
Hoverson can be reached at [email protected].
