Stories by Amy Wolf
Belonging happens when people find relationship through inclusion, empathy, shared goals and valuing each other's ideas and contributions.
Meet three members of the Class of 2024 who represent belonging in action, and who are enriching the Vanderbilt community along the way. Each has brought people from across campus together in mind, body and spirit-whether through hiking, singing, volunteering or spreading words of kindness.
Danait Issac is passionate about environmental justice and strengthening cultural ties for people from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. She's tackling these issues in a unique way-taking students out of their comfort zones and into the woods through her "Blackness and the Great Outdoors" initiative.
"I love leading these free outdoor trips where we also tie in a discussion or host dialogue groups around Black people and the outdoors and find ways to decompress and heal in nature," said Issac, who is double majoring in medicine, health and society and gender and sexuality studies, with a minor in environmental and sustainability studies within the College of Arts and Science.
"A lot of times this is the first time a student is able to explore something like kayaking or horseback riding, and I've just seen a full transformation by the end of the trip," she said.
SHARING HER CULTURE
Issac's parents moved to the U.S from the northeast African country of Eritrea. At Vanderbilt, Issac is closely tied with the Ethiopian-Eritrean Student Association and is passionate about supporting the community and sharing it with others.
"The unique ways that we [in the Eritrean community] eat together and celebrate together and mourn together really taught me the importance of being a part of a collective and the power of community," she said. "That feeling of community is something that I brought to Vanderbilt, and I am so immensely grateful to experience here."
