UTSA continues to engage students in a deep-diving exploration of leadership and civic engagement on the Student Leadership Center's annual Civil Rights and Social Justice Experience.

Forty-seven students and four staff members traveled by charter bus to Little Rock, Arkansas, Birmingham, Alabama and Memphis, Tennessee. Each day involved tours of prominent historical landmarks and large group activities as well as more intimate peer-facilitated discussions exploring connections between our civil rights heritage and contemporary social justice policy issues.

Participants attended a three part orientation prior to the tour and reconvened afterward to formally reflect upon their experience in front of a broader campus audience including Dean of Students Kevin Price, students and faculty. The group also connected with the local community by marching together with a larger UTSA contingent in the nation's largest Martin Luther King Jr. March, held here in San Antonio.

Sophomore Biochemistry major and UTSA Top Scholar Ashley Tran had this to say about participating this year: “Overall, this trip was breathtaking, inspiring, appalling, and eye-opening. My experience was very emotional, and it pushed me to be more curious about my own history and what discrimination or other types of injustices my parents endured when first coming to America that I didn't. I feel so lucky to have been able to go on a trip like this and walk along the same paths of civil rights leaders…”

Submitted by —
Eliot Howard
Associate Director,
Student Leadership Development Center