Conference

Walking in Someone Else’s shoes: A Modified Privilege Walk

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Abstract

The ability to “walk in some else’s shoes” is a trait of great leaders. It is an act of empathy and the process can help us understand personal and larger structural barriers that impacts all students and our communities, particularly those from underrepresented populations (e.g, minority, low income, first generation, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities). The workshop will be led by students from the STEM Scholars Program and is OPEN TO ALL ISCORE attendees. We have a fun interactive activity that will involves examination our own privileges and those of others in a safe environment. We will highlight a strength-based perspective of people that have successfully navigating their way into the ISU community and how these skills are linked to effective leadership within and beyond our communities. The participants will experience‚ wearing new shoes, with a post-walk time to share their thoughts through an open forum discussion. Based on past experiences, we have designed this privilege walk format to protect the identity of individuals who may be hesitant to share their (dis)advantages within a large group of people, including friends and strangers. This anonymization helps individuals who may be emotionally triggered by the traditional privilege walk format.