BOOM! is more critical than ever
Miki Lin ’27, a Mount Holyoke College junior, is grateful to be a part of the planning process for this year’s BOOM! event.
This year marks Mount Holyoke College’s tenth annual learning symposium, Building On Our Momentum (BOOM!) Community Day. Dedicated to our intentional engagement with social justice and social issues, this is a day of conversation facilitated by workshops and speakers from all walks of life. In a time where much of our history is being written and unwritten by those in power who aim to take away our civil rights and the rights of our neighbors, BOOM! is more critical than ever for preserving our sense of community and shared knowledge.
As a BOOM! program lead, some of the work I have been doing in preparation for our big day is promoting the event to students, especially those who will attend their first BOOM! this year. With my fellow program leads and the guidance of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team, we are working on captioning different media, drafting social media posts, developing scripts for speakers and creating a BOOM! zine that explores the event’s origins as a student initiative led by our very own alums.
This work has always been important to me as someone who grew up in poverty with immigrant parents who fought with hungry bellies to make sure their kids were fed. I understand firsthand the injustices of this world and how cruel it can be, but I’ve also seen firsthand the beauty of a community coming together. I remember all the teachers and mentors who helped make sure I had warm winter clothes and sneakers with no holes, the mom of my friend who packed an extra lunch for me, and the lady who held my hand and told me it was going to be okay because she was there to support me any way she could. Every one of these people gave a piece of themselves without question to make sure I stand where I am today.
This is why I am incredibly grateful to be entrusted with this work, knowing how vital it is for many members of the community and for the communities and people they will care for someday. For some, it will be their second or third BOOM!, and for others it will be their last. I hope this BOOM! is special for many because it is so special to me. We remind ourselves at BOOM! that the quest for justice doesn’t end when the last speaker says their final words or when we return to our dorms after a long day of intense dialogue. Rather, it is a continuation of a journey started by those long before us and likely continued by those long after us. Yet in the midst of all this learning, we are reminded that we are not alone in our fight. Every single person who sits down in the same room, listening to the same speaker, is there as an ally, just as we are to them.
