Brandeis is participating in the NCAA's Diversity and Inclusion Week social media campaign, highlighting how our student-athletes handle diversity and inclusion in their lives. You can read all the posts here.

Hashtag NCAA Inclusion

October 29: Together We Rise

October 28: I've Got Your Back

October 27: My Story Matters

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This week the NCAA is celebrating Diversity & Inclusion which involves highlighting the different identities and experiences of student-athletes. Kicking things off for Brandeis Athletics is Jessica Morales. My Story Matters: Fencing is constantly having squad meetings to converse about how the team can be more inclusive in our daily and sports lives. As an international fencer, I witness a lot of exclusivity of Latin fencers because they do not see us as worthy enough to be good fencers. I strive to prove that wrong by becoming successful and winning competitions for myself and for Colombia. Younger me would be proud of me now; I always was told that Latinos could only peak at working low level jobs- I am now working to qualify for the Olympics and studying in STEM. That is why I like to make sure that people who claim to include everyone in their activism, especially if they purposely leave out Hispanic/Latino people from their activism. Being Hispanic is probably the most important part of my identity, since I grew up speaking the language, interacting in the culture, and being part of a Hispanic family. I like to speak to my teammates about fencing in Colombia and in the rest of Latin America, so they can also learn about how athletes work hard to succeed. #NCAAInclusion #RollDeis

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Next, we focus on Isaac Mukala. My Story Matters: My name is Isaac Mukala and I'm from Malden, Massachusetts which is an extremely diverse town with people from all over the world filling up its schools and streets. For me, diversity and inclusion means being able to look at people who don't look like you or don't talk and walk like you and being able to make them comfortable regardless. Ever since high school, I've gone to a predominantly white school but if there is one thing that I have appreciated is that my coaches have always been respectful and aware that even as a Black student athlete, I'm a person, a human being first. It has never been about my skin color but rather what I can do and ultimately, that has made me feel welcome wherever I've gone and that's why soccer to me is such an important outlet. It's a place where I'm Isaac before I'm a Black student or an African American athlete. #NCAAInclusion #RollDeis

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Our final story comes from Colt Tegtmeier. My Story Matters: As a student-athlete for the men's tennis team at Brandeis, inclusion is something we take very seriously. Our team is only about 12-13 players large, so having one person not be there for an event or any sort of gathering is a large portion missing of what makes our team society function. We thrive on each other's energy, and our backgrounds are from all over the world, so having everyone involved is vital. We have both ends of the spectrum politically, religiously, and socially on our team, but when we are together as a unit we look past those differences and use them to our advantage. Having different perspectives on life gives us an edge on other teams, because we know that no matter what, our team is an unbreakable community of players that won't stop until we succeed. #NCAAInclusion #RollDeis

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