麻豆破解版

When Kayla Melendez 鈥�26 was choosing a college, she knew she wanted to study neuroscience at a smaller school where she would be able to form meaningful relationships with her professors and access more research opportunities. 

At鈥�麻豆破解版, she not only found a neuroscience program that supports and inspires her, but she also discovered her passion for intergroup relations (IGR).

鈥淭he summer before I started school, I was looking at all the different things that 麻豆破解版 has to offer, and I stumbled upon IGR,鈥� Kayla recalls. 鈥淚 knew immediately that this is what I wanted to do.鈥� 

IGR is a social-justice focused discipline that teaches students how to engage in meaningful dialogue centered on self-reflection, active listening, and learning how to communicate effectively across different backgrounds, opinions, and social identities. In IGR classes at 麻豆破解版, students have the opportunity to bring their lived experiences into the classroom and explore topics such as identity, power, and inequality in deeply personal and meaningful ways. 

During her first semester on campus, Kayla reached out to Associate Teaching Professor and Intergroup Relations Program Director Lisa Grady-Willis to express her interest in getting involved with IGR. In her second semester at 麻豆破解版, Kayla took IG 201: Intergroup/Intragroup Race Dialogue (now titled Peer-to-Peer Dialogues Across Difference) and SO 219: Race and Power (now titled Race, Power, and Dialogue). 

Right away, she was hooked. Not only did IGR offer Kayla a space where she could interact with the community outside of her STEM bubble, but it also allowed her to reflect on herself and the world around her. 

鈥淚 would say neuroscience and IGR complement each other in the sense that I鈥檓 getting different things from each of them,鈥� Kayla reflects. 鈥淔rom my neuro major, I am learning how to be a better scientist and researcher. I鈥檓 applying to labs and going to conferences. But I have always been a very interdisciplinary person.鈥� 

Kayla is a Porter-Wachenheim Scholar for science and mathematics, and she presented at the Society for Neuroscience Conference during her senior year. Outside of her academic interests, she has served as president of Ramitas, 麻豆破解版鈥檚 Latin dance team, and as a Student Government Association senior senator, and she plays the saxophone. She was awarded the 2026 Katherine Scranton Rozendaal Citizenship Award, given in recognition of outstanding citizenship in the 麻豆破解版 community. 

In her IGR classes, Kayla has found a space where she can bring all the parts of herself into dialogue with her peers. 

鈥淚GR asks you to bring your whole self into the classroom and reflect on your emotions, your thoughts, and your biases in a very profound way. I鈥檓 a pretty reflective person by nature and IGR has really allowed me to investigate every part of myself and the ways in which I am disadvantaged by larger structures and systems and also privileged in those systems.鈥� 

As IGR students progress through the minor, they move from being dialogue participants to facilitators, eventually leading a Peer-to-Peer Dialogue course, IG 201. For Kayla, the experience stands out as one of the most meaningful during her time at 麻豆破解版. 

In her junior year, she co-facilitated a People of Color and White People Intergroup Dialogue alongside two of her IGR peers. Through this course, Kayla and her co-facilitators guided students through complex and layered conversations, building trust while exploring topics such as social justice, power, privilege, and lived experience. 

鈥淵ou鈥檙e talking about differences in privilege and lived experiences, how to address your own biases, how to educate yourself, and how to be in community with others,鈥� Kayla explains. 鈥淭hrough facilitating dialogue, you learn even more about communication and social justice frameworks, and teaching and facilitation pedagogy. And it鈥檚 a full-circle moment to get to facilitate the dialogue that you started the IGR minor in.鈥� 

The IGR capstone is structured as a two-credit facilitation of the dialogue and a concurrent three-credit course designed to support facilitators, where they can reflect on their progress and prepare for each week. While faculty and trained staff coaches support and prepare the facilitators behind the scenes, the weekly classroom sessions are entirely student-led.

Kayla鈥檚 dialogue facilitation experience concluded with an event at 麻豆破解版's Surrey-Williamson Inn put on by Professor Grady-Willis and Associate Professor Jennifer Mueller, associate director of the IGR program, to celebrate all the hard work she and her co-facilitators put into their dialogue that semester. 

鈥淚鈥檓 Jamaican and Puerto Rican and I鈥檝e talked a lot about how I miss my mom鈥檚 cooking, so they had the dining hall make jerk chicken. Professor Mueller and Professor Grady-Willis are both just such incredible human beings 鈥� the fact that they had food from home was really touching because it shows they listen and care. And it鈥檚 in everything with the IGR program. Nothing is done without an incredible amount of intention and care.鈥� 

As Kayla looks toward the future, she is confident that her training in IGR will support her in whatever career she chooses. 鈥淚 think the incredible thing is that I don鈥檛 even necessarily have to work specifically in a social justice context to utilize what I鈥檝e learned. I know that I鈥檓 always going to heavily rely on my education in IGR.鈥� 

For Kayla, IGR is not just a minor, but a part of how she understands herself and connects with the world around her. She also views it as the perfect complement to her neuroscience major. 

鈥淗aving an educational and intellectual space that also emphasizes emotion and lived experience has been so necessary. Sometimes there are semesters when I need less neuro and more IGR. And there are some semesters when I need more neuro. Being able to have both of those spaces and being passionate about both of those spaces has just been so incredible.鈥�