Senior Snapshots: Learning, growing, and giving

For the past three years, since she first participated in it freshman year, Tate has been a teaching assistant in the Learning to Learn program. After graduation she will return to New York City, most likely where she grew up in Harlem, to teach elementary school as part of Teach for America.

"My freshman year was kind of a hard year adjustment-wise. It was really hard for me because I went to a city school that didn't really adequately prepare me for a college course load. I didn't do terribly, but for me, it wasn't good enough," says Tate.

After taking Applications of Learning Theory, offered through Learning to Learn, a BC program aimed at helping students discover methods of learning and advancing their education, Tate became a TA.

"I know where I was freshman year and how I felt so lost and my TA was a guiding light to me, so I just feel so good that I could pass that along and share that with someone else," says Tate.

"[Tate] has been doing it for so long she's a fixture around the office and we look to her because she has an understanding of the issues of being a first-generation college student because she is one," says Dacia Gentilella, a learning specialist in Learning to Learn and member of the English faculty. "She tells her personal stories to students and makes them comfortable and inspires them to do what they can while they're here."

The Learning to Learn house at 50 College Rd. has really become a home away from home for Tate, who also participated in the McNair Scholar program. The program focuses on providing low-income, first-generation college students with a head start in looking toward graduate school. Tate spent last summer at BC working with a professor on a research project about African American theater, visiting colleges, and preparing for the GRE.

In addition to the Learning to Learn program, Tate was a resident assistant junior year and is actively involved in the Black Student Forum. She was a freshman representative to the AHANA Caucus, where she was exposed to ideas of activism and issues at the University.

"It was at the AHANA Caucus that I learned about a lot of the issues going on at BC that I wasn't aware of as far as diversifying the history core, revamping the ethnic minors, and filling the Nelson chair," says Tate.

Sophomore year, Tate became vice president of the Black Student Forum, co-coordinator of the OLAA culture show, and participated in the development of the ONE movement. She became president of the Black Student Forum in September and has focused the year on planning Black Family Weekend, with an effort to include more alumni.

She has also been involved in several cultural groups and shows.

"[Tate] came in a little bit uncertain of herself and her place at Boston College, feeling maybe she didn't fit, and I just watched her dive into all sorts of activities on campus and gain a lot of confidence and the courage to stand up for what she thought was right or wrong," says Gentilella.

In the future, Tate, a communication major and black studies minor, would like to attend graduate school to study communication or African and African Diaspora studies. She would ultimately love to start a non-profit or work in marketing or public relations for community centers and churches promoting the arts.