Program Coordinator, The University of Toledo

My name is Aleiah Jones. I work here at the University of Toledo in the Office of Multi-cultural Student Success as the program coordinator for Latino Initiatives. A lot of my role is really programming-based and providing services to students. Some of that means trainings for different folks on campus. It means throwing events, it means being a mentor and a role model for students, and it means connecting students to the right resources on campus. We do a lot of fun stuff out of our office. We just created an ofrenda in our office, which is also part of Hispanic Heritage Month, and participated in the office decorating contest for homecoming. Some of the other things we do is family meals out of our office, which is a way for us to help build community among the students and the staff in our office. Today's a good example. Today is a lot of meetings. I get to participate in NSBE, which is a national society for black engineers. They threw a breakfast this morning, which was awesome. They had a great keynote speaker and talked about their goals and plans for the year. That was a 7:30 start time. Then I had a meeting at 10:00 AM with a faculty member on campus to talk about ways that she and our office can be more connected. Then I had a meeting with some more faculty members about curriculum. We're working on creating a Latinx and Latin-American studies minor on campus, so I get to be in those conversations. Then another working meeting to help plan our employer meet-and-greet event that's coming up at the end of this month. Then this evening I'll be heading close to downtown Toledo for the non-profit. But in between all of those things is of course meeting and supporting students. That's really the best part of my job, is when I get to connect with students on a personal level.