Brandon Colbert graduated in 2007 and began his work with the Program on Intergroup Relations as a first year student through a dialogue class on socioeconomic status. He continued his involvement as a facilitator for dialogue classes on gender and SES as well as with the Youth Dialogues program in Metro Detroit. Brandon is currently commuting between Washington, D.C. and Michigan working on starting a new company called Awakening. We are honored that Brandon decided to devote so much of his time to IGR as an undergraduate and want our readers to know the incredible things that he has learned and is up to!
Q: How did you get involved in IGR?
A: “I was a Sociology Major and that’s how I heard about IGR. I didn’t know too much about it but I hoped that it would expose me to the different issues and perspectives that I came to Michigan for. When I took my first dialogue course on socio-economic status, my interest in IGR went up exponentially. So, I applied for the training course and I facilitated three dialogues – two on gender and one on socioeconomic status. I also participated in the Youth Dialogues on Race and Ethnicity program in Metro Detroit as a facilitator and I was a part of CommonGround. After my sophomore year, IGR was the bulk of my undergraduate career. “
Q: What made IGR so special for you?
A: “You take your math and science courses and there’s right or wrong answers but with IGR no one can tell you you’re wrong. No one can tell you that this did or didn’t happen to you when you were 14 or 15 years old. So it gave me a lot of confidence initially and it just kept me coming back. I also really wanted to learn from different people from different backgrounds in open discussion. In no other courses can you have such an intimate discussion about race and class and SES.”
Q: Any specific memories from your dialogues?
A: “Bari Rogoff , who was also just on an Alumni Spotlight, was actually my co-facilitator for the first dialogue I ever did which was on gender. We were having trouble because we felt like the students in the dialogue weren’t being totally authentic. So, we wanted to get them in a real situation, we set up a scenario where all the guys were getting paid more than all the women and the men had the option to give some of their money back. Nobody gave the money back. This turned into such a rich discussion – it started off a little heated but that really just put the onus on them.”
Q: Any particular social justice issues that interested you as a student?
A: “Socioeconomic status was something that I really gravitated to and was interested in. I think that stemmed from when I grew up. I didn’t grow up with a lot of money but I was always around friends that did have money. I’d go to friends’ cottages and the question would come up, “How come you don’t have a cottage?”. In American culture the mentality that’s taught is “if you work hard, you’ll be successful and pull yourself up by your bootstraps” but what isn’t taught is that there are barriers and structures in place that make the success more difficult for some than others. But as a young kid, I didn’t have the education to explain all that. So, when I got to IGR, I learned about all of this. I wished I could have known it when I was younger so I could explain that there are certain things in place if you’re black, or a female, or LGBTQ, or any minority group that make the American Dream harder to obtain.”
Q: How does your work with IGR influence the work you do today? And what are you doing today?
A: “Well, I just got back from Bolivia. I really had a life changing experience just going out of my comfort zone like we talk about in IGR. For the last 4-5 years, I’d been working in Youth Development and I needed a break and wanted to just go. I have some friends in Bolivia and went down there for three months, took some Spanish courses, worked with the local school, and now I’m starting a new company called Awakening with my co-founder Stephanie Aguilar. Awakening is about having people experience new things – one of the parts is a Bolivian travel business. It’s a start-up adventure travel experience company and we want attract adventure and culture seeking travelers between the ages of 21-45.
What IGR has done is help me to step out of my comfort zone and go to a different culture and really experience that. How I’m using this now is to encourage others to do the same.”
Q: Any takeaways/broad lessons from IGR that you still use in your life today?
A: “Absolutely. I think one of the major ones is conflict management. When I think of this, as well as “elephants in the room,” I know that my IGR experience gave me the tools to navigate those situations. Or, when something pulls at my emotions but often times an emotional response is not the best one to give at that time. This has all helped with my skills in leadership and being able to work with people and do so absent of a negative emotional response is very important. I use these skills almost every day because you just can’t turn it off, they’re all a part of me.”
Q: Any closing words of wisdom for current students?
A: “Keep an open mind about people of different backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. If something feels funny or upsetting to you, explore it and explore why it makes you feel that way or why the other person said it in a way that tugged at you or perked your interest. Thoughts and ideas usually don’t come out of thin air, they came from somewhere. We often say we fear what we don’t understand but at Michigan you have such a clear opportunity to get an understanding so I’d say take advantage of it before you leave.”