Even before I officially became a student at William & Mary, I was blessed to hear from world-renowned scholars. Dr. Hrabowski, President of UMBC drove down from Maryland in the midst of a snowstorm to speak on the four pillars of college success in science (3/21/18). I had lunch with Dr. Loewenberg Ball; and later that day, I attended her presentation on disrupting racism and oppression through teaching (11/1/18). Dr. Steele was the keynote speaker at the Annual Diversity & Inclusion Symposium (11/1/19). Over the winter break, I read his book “Whistling Vivaldi” and learned more about his research as a psychologist on the impact of social identity contingencies. Ta-Nehisi Coates delivered an inspiring and entertaining keynote address for the 10th Biennial Conference of the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD) (11/8/19). His vivid descriptions of researching and writing his historical novel “The Water Dancer” gave me valuable insight into the phenomenological approach.