My Journey to Eastern - Daira’s Story

I am from the east side of Detroit. No, not Pontiac or Grosse Pointe, but smack dab in the middle of the eastside of Detroit, less than a ten-minute drive from downtown. I know there are a lot of stereotypes that come with living in Detroit, but I love everything about it. I went to Benjamin Carson High School of Science and Medicine, which is a school within the Detroit Public Schools Community District. When people hear this they automatically assume that because the school is not one of the more popular ones in the school district, it is not a good place. However, this is untrue. Had I not gone to the school I did, I would've missed out on many opportunities.

In my sophomore year, I had the opportunity to be published in a book called Just Be, which is a collection of short stories written by my classmates and me. This book addresses our thoughts on freedom, and being published is an opportunity that I am eternally grateful for. In my junior year, I had the opportunity to intern at a Fortune 500 company, which is a relationship that I’ve been able to keep, even after I graduated. In my senior year, I became a Certified Nursing Assistant through a partnership with my school and job corp. This gave me the opportunity to work in a nursing home during COVID, which although I am not pursuing a degree in the medical field, was a memorable experience.

These experiences made me think I was prepared to apply to college, boy was I wrong. There was terminology I didn't necessarily understand, questions I didn't know the answer to, and they wanted something called the FAFSA. I decided to become an expert at all this, so I could help all of my friends apply as well. This was a great learning experience for me, and I couldn't have done it without my college counselor.

After I had an understanding of all this, I needed to select the colleges I wanted to apply to. I knew my mother would never be able to take me on a campus visit, so I knew I would have to do without. I set some basic criteria and got started.

My college search was easy; I knew I wanted to go to a college in Michigan. There are even fewer schools in the state with my major, let alone with my major within their School of Engineering and Technology (which isn’t inherently important, but I wanted to focus on technology-based classes rather than business-focused). I eventually came down to two schools, so I decided to get to know the communities of each school, specifically the incoming freshman. To do this, I joined a group chat and tried to make friends and find roommates.

For Eastern, it was easy. The girl I met to be my roommate was amazing, and everything I wanted in a roommate. I made friends before getting on campus, with who I am still close. For the other school, it wasn’t so easy. I was never enough; I wasn't religious enough, I didn’t have strong enough “morals.” I was determined to go there though because I found out I had received a full ride. But there’s only so much one person can take. One day, when I looked in the group, I had found something so blatantly racist, I couldn’t believe it. Normally, the racism I had received before had been microaggressions; this was the first time I had seen real-life racism that would have a huge effect on me and my life. Nobody said anything, they were laughing (with the laugh reaction) and making comments as though it was some funny joke. It made me feel like a joke. So I decided to rescind my admission to the school, and I’m sure every other person of color who saw it did as well.

This made me rethink my entire college process. Had I been applying to colleges that attract those kinds of people? This was in June, could I even go to another college? Do I need to take a gap year? Should I give up on staying in Michigan and just go to an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities)?

I turned to my second choice school and did some research. Luckily, Eastern made it easy, they accepted students later into the summer than I expected, had the major I was looking for and had events during the summer to let people get to know Eastern. Instead of being disappointed about my experience, I decided to attend events and look into Eastern to make sure I wouldn't have a similar experience as the previous school.

I had the opportunity to go to a ton of events that solidified my decision on Eastern, and I haven't regretted it since. There is a hugely diverse population; during new student orientation I got to meet with a bunch of incoming black freshmen like myself to talk about college, worries (mostly financial), and “talk Eastern.” That support never left either; I’m a part of a mentorship group held by the Center for Race and Ethnicity (CORE), and I also have a mentor through TRiO Student Support Services who helped me navigate everything from how to perform a degree audit to how to resign from a job.

Eastern gave me the support I needed to be successful in college. There are way more resources that I have the ability to access, such as the Brotherhood/Sisterhood living-learning community, the EDGE program, and the CORE assistant fund. I’m a strong believer in “access ain’t inclusion,” but with the variety of support programs offered at Eastern, I would be lying if I said EMU doesn't put its money where its mouth is.

This was my journey to Eastern; I’m not saying it’ll be yours (and I hope it isn't), but as you’re applying to colleges, I hope you keep my experiences in the back of your mind. My advice is, no matter what college you want to attend, make sure you put yourself in the community and learn about the resources available to ensure they have what you need to be successful and to feel welcome.

Black History Month Events:

• Black Excellence Financial Literacy Workshop

• Black Blockbuster

• Who will save black Democracy?

• Art and soul of black broadway

• What does black history month mean to us?

• An Ordinary Black Woman's Journey to Social Justice

• Black Excellence in the Workplace

• Paving the Way (series)

Student Resources:

• Center of Race and Ethnicity (CORE)

• Multicultural Greek Council