Articles - Spring 2010 - return to index
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I don't think I would be where I am if it weren't for Lane. |
Student Activism Empowers April-Kay Williams
-By Chris Cunningham
She says she used to be shy. These days, 23-year-old Lane Community College student April-Kay Williams is comfortable making 15-minute testimonies before Oregon legislators.
“Lane, and Eugene, have had a great impact on my life,” Williams says.
As a member of theOregon Students of Color Coalition, she provided firsthand accounts to legislators about how community college budget cuts would impact the lives of students of color.
She says her public presentations “broke a lot of barriers for me, to see someone in a position of power as a person, and be able to tell them my story.”
Having earned an associate of arts degree in liberal arts from San Bernadino Valley College in California, she enrolled at Lane in 2008 and found numerous opportunities to represent students on key issues.
Jumping feet first into an advocacy role in Lane’s Black Student Union, Williams lost her shyness when she spoke about issues that mattered to her. As a member of the United States Student Association, the oldest and largest national studentled organization, she campaigned for the right of every citizen to an affordable education.
Williams recently won her election bid for the Multicultural and Events Coordinator position, with the Associated Students of Lane Community College. She hopes to bring“cultural diversity and competency training to campus and student government,” she says.
In the future, she might consider a career as an OSCC organizer, and visit campuses around Oregon, ensureing that each college has representatives to support students of color.
Williams now is working toward a two-year degree in early childhood education, and she is dual-enrolled at the University of Oregon, where she is a pre-journalism major.
Praising the wealth of Lane’s students services, such as the Multicultural Center and Women’s Center, Williams says, “I don’t think I would be where I am if it weren’t for Lane.”
For information about student government at Lane, go online at 2011sitearchive.lanecc.edu/aslcc
