A decade of BOOM!
The Building On Our Momentum (BOOM!) Learning Symposium at Mount Holyoke College celebrated its tenth anniversary this year.
On April 28, 2026, Mount Holyoke College marked a historic milestone with its tenth annual Building On Our Momentum (BOOM!) Learning Symposium.
This defining campus tradition — a collective pause from classes to allow for deep, intentional engagement with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and community — was more welcome than ever as DEI initiatives in higher education continue to be targeted.
“BOOM! is about cultivating love, nurturing, accountability, dialogue and engagement with each other,” said Kijua Sanders-McMurtry, vice president for equity and inclusion. “It’s about eliminating the human hierarchy and believing that we can eliminate the human hierarchy. We can do this because we have to do this. We have to believe that it’s possible that we can change the world together and that kindness and love can be the foundation on which we build the rest of our community.”
This sense of reflection continued during the morning’s featured conversation between President Danielle R. Holley and noted author Curtis Chin. As Chin discussed his memoir, “Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant,” during the opening plenary, he explored the intersections of identity and empathy as well as the vital role played by community spaces in both. He also read excerpts from his book and led a workshop based on his films, “Warren King: King of Cardboard” and “Vincent Who?”
The 2026 schedule was a reflection of how BOOM! has expanded in scope over the last decade. This year, the sessions offered were more than just discussions and panels; holistic experiences were also included. For instance, KAMAUU led his “Quiet Moment” soundbath and meditation, and Miles Borrero offered “Finding Shelter Through the Storm: A Somatic Practice,” which was aimed at reclaiming bodily sovereignty in politicized times.
Current campus issues were also examined. “Holding Complexity in a Polarized World” examined discourse on the Fizz app and discussed the nuances of community in an online, anonymous space. There was also a keynote providing tips on building a mutiracial democracy, which featured Sayu Bhojwani, who has long motivated immigrants and women of color to run for political office.
This year’s BOOM! also featured self-paced and online workshops, such as “Asian American Is Not a Color: Conversations on Race, Affirmative Action and Family” featuring scholar Oiyan Poon, in-person panels with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Legacy Project, featuring Courtland Cox and Judy Richardson, and an online module on understanding antisemitism and Islamophobia.
From archival workshops, such as “A Collector of Me” led by archivist and memory worker Zakiya Collier, to offerings that included bystander training for immigrant justice, facilitated by the ACLU of Massachusetts, as well as celebrations of National Poetry Month, featuring poets aja monet and Christian Aldana, and the tenth anniversary of the Queer & Trans Poetry and Prose Reading and Open Mic Night, the 2026 symposium was all about momentum. Ten years in, BOOM! has become an essential foundation of the Mount Holyoke community.
