JUNIOR COHORT

Eddie Bankston

Liberal Arts Honors Program/African & African Diaspora Studies/Philosophy/Humanities

It is difficult to recount all that has happened within these past twelve months. Everything moves so fast. A year ago, I was leaping anxiously into a sophomore year that would come with as many challenges as opportunities. And today, I am grateful that I found growth and community despite the chaos.

I began the fall semester of my sophomore year attending various events on campus with friends. Ready to move past pandemic, I enjoyed live music and poetry events that would take place around the city. The Dedman events we had allowed me to meet some of my closest friends. We shared stories of our summers and plans for the semester in fluorescent lounges, on brisk walks, or at busy street taco trucks. As the semester came to a close, it would be these friends that would encourage me to change my majors to what they are today: African and African Diaspora studies, philosophy, and humanities.

When spring came, I jumped into research that would enrich the lessons I had learned in class. I joined the founding planning committee for the Undergraduate Research Conference, hosted by Liberal Arts Career Services. Here, I met other students and faculty with varied research interests that would go on to expand my inquiry. I also had the privilege of interning with the re-entry organization A New Way of Life, founded and led by Ms. Susan Burton. With ANWOL, I did research to help establish a SAFE housing network in Detroit for formerly incarcerated women. I not only got to learn about the many challenges formerly incarcerated women face, but I contributed to a solution.

I was fortunate enough to travel to London to do research with my friends Joshua Russell and William C Hearne this past summer. Using funds from the President’s Award for Global Learning, as well as my academic enrichment fund, I studied the ways that global anti-black racism affects Black students’ experiences in university. I left London with new friends and questions that would expand my thinking, my living, and my learning. I have immense gratitude for the Dedman family and community for empowering me to grow through experience.

Nina Mbonu

Plan II/ Human Development and Family Sciences

With two years of college under my belt, I find myself constantly in awe of how much personal growth and change I have undergone in what feels like such a short time as a UT student. Like a burgeoning flower bud after a harsh winter has passed, the world began to reopen, and my sophomore year seemed to finally resemble the pre-covid college dream I had at the beginning of 2020. Over the course of the 2021-22 school year, I have learned how to be a better student, a better friend, and a better leader. I got to delve deeper into my passions as I took more specialized classes relating to child development and spent more time with patients as I volunteered at St. David’s Medical Center and shadowed doctors at Dell Children’s. These experiences have only increased my desire to one day enter the field of pediatrics and join other Black physicians who are working toward making healthcare more equitable for marginalized communities. 

I got to quench my thirst for creativity in my roles as an ensemble member and historian with the Longhorn Singers. I have been in choir since elementary school and performing on stage with people I love is when I am at my happiest. After two years of virtual performances being the new normal, I had forgotten the exhilarating feeling of singing and dancing in front of a live audience. My weekly rehearsals kept me sane as I balanced the often arduous workload from my stem and honors classes. Furthermore, I had the incredible opportunity to work as an undergraduate teaching assistant for the Plan II signature course titled Pathways to Civic Engagement. Getting to work alongside Lee Walker and the rest of his teaching team has been one of the most inspiring experiences I have had to date. I took the course virtually during my freshman year and through my role as a TA, I got the amazing opportunity to experience the class once again but in the in-person format. My time as Lee Walker’s student, TA, and friend has bestowed me with a greater understanding and appreciation of the value of connecting with our local communities. 

I took this appreciation with me when I traveled abroad and lived in Santander, Spain for six weeks this summer. Using my academic enrichment fund, I was able to study Spanish at the Universidad de Cantabria where I lived with a host family in the center of the city and went on a multitude of weekend excursions to cities like Segovia, Madrid, and even Paris. It has always been my dream to study abroad, but I never believed that it would have been something I would achieve during my time at UT. I am eternally grateful for the generosity of the Dedman family and the Dedman program for helping students fulfill their wildest dreams. I am above all thankful for the rest of the scholars in the program who are now some of my closest friends. Traversing the trials and tribulations of sophomore year was exponentially easier with them by my side. My sophomore year was full of a myriad of complicated challenges and electric experiences that make me incredibly excited for all of the opportunities my next academic year has to offer.

Aditya Namjoshi

Plan II/Chemical Engineering

Sophomore year has been a year to try many things and see what I like. Throughout the fall and early into the spring, I continued learning Urdu through the Critical Language Scholarship’s “Refresh” program, zooming twice a week with teachers in Lucknow to work on my reading and conversational skills. When CLS Refresh ended, my language learning journeys luckily didn’t— thanks to my friend Avi, I discovered italki, and took additional classes on Kannada. I spent a few days in D.C. training as a CLS ambassador, and next year, I hope to be a resource for students applying for a Critical Language Scholarship and to encourage more students to take up language learning as undergrads.

This year, I deepened my friendships with the others in my cohort, attending my friends’ concerts, listening to their poetry readings, and watching their dance choreos. Second semester, I discovered the importance of balance, freeing up space in my schedule and prioritizing caring for my own mental health, physical health, and the things that I find relaxing— drinking chai in the evening, writing poetry, and perfecting a Chicken Tikka recipe. Some of the highlights of my second semester were a concert near Austin where I got to see Ustad Zakir Hussain, Kala Ramnath, and Jayanthi Kumaresh in performance, a harvest festival for the UT community I helped organize, and a night spent watching a blood moon lunar eclipse with friends.

This summer, I am interning as an engineer at a pharmaceutical company, learning about the manufacturing processes behind making medicines. In the fall, I am looking forward to raising awareness about cancer prevention, care, and treatment, by training and volunteering with Texas 4000 for Cancer. I’m grateful to the Dedman community for all their support, and I’m looking forward to the fall!

Isabel Webb-Carey

Plan II

2020 was the year that sent a shock of seismic proportions through each and every one of us; the subsequent years have offered space for introspection, healing and rebuilding as individuals and collectives. Given that my family is a transatlantic ocean away, I am so grateful for the Dedman community for acting as a port of consistent support through a time of such hyper-instability. After a year of necessary restriction, I have been able to explore my interests in research, journalism, and pedagogy through organizations within and beyond the university. Pursuit of opportunities that further my academic and professional ambitions has been tempered by outlets that I have come to recognize as necessary for my holistic fulfillment. This year, I re-discovered my love of dance, choreography and movement; I nourished my soul with hours in the southern sun; and learned how to help others heal through dialogue facilitation training, volunteer work at a suicide hotline, and transformative classes on Loss & Grief.

I relish being an unrelenting student of life. Seeking out performances, art shows, poetry slams, workshops, and open lectures on everything from civic democracy to the psychopathology of espionage, I dived into the wealth of experiences life has to offer. Some of my happiest memories have been as a proud (potentially embarrassing) audience member, as my Dedman friends showcased their talents and commitment at research symposiums, performances, and competitions. I am grateful to the Dedman program for bringing these wonderful people into my life and giving me some of my best friends. Witnessing their fulfillment (whatever that means to them) brings me so much pride. Yet I am also grateful to the Dedman program for the wings it has given my own future. Such freedom has meant traveling to D.C. to pursue an internship at Pew Research Center this summer – an experience that has gifted clarity and insurmountable happiness.

I truly can’t wait to return to share stories and memories with the Dedman community. With an open heart and mind, I look forward to years of continued growth.