Bursting Out of Your Bubble: Students, Alumni Speak About Making Cultural Connections

The Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Career Development Center hosted a panel of current students and recent alumni who spoke on making multicultural connections with classmates, friends, and coworkers on campus and in the workplace.

Shalynda Morton, assistant director for multicultural life, opened the event, emphasizing the importance of learning from one another and fostering a sense of global citizenship. She explained how such insightful dialogue is crucial to living up to the motto of her office: “Your presence is important.”

DeSales alumna Naomy Diaz-Sierra M’23, who currently serves as an admissions counselor and diversity educator at Cedar Crest College, moderated the panel. As Diaz guided discussions among the panelists and student attendees, she talked about the importance of aligning one’s values to the mission of their school and future employers.

“Inclusivity starts with you,” she said. “The work you do affects those around you.”

The panel consisted of Sabena Burkhart ’25, Joan Martinez ’25, Taliyah Coffee ’26, and Adam Perone ’26. Each panelist shared their personal experience with overcoming stereotypes, navigating feelings of exclusion, embracing different cultures, and building a more inclusive campus.

“We are all in a bubble, but we have to step out of it,” Burkhart, an English major, said about the need to have uncomfortable conversations when embracing new ideas. “Speak up, make yourself known, and take up space.”

Speaking on the importance of creating a more inclusive campus, Perone, a criminal justice major, agreed that DeSales can sometimes feel like a bubble. “So building inclusivity and DEI is important,” he said. “It makes people feel recognized, even if they don’t feel that way at home.”

Ultimately, all of the panelists encouraged students to take up space and be unapologetically themselves. Sheyla Montanez Gonzalez ’23, M’25, graduate assistant for multicultural engagement, hopes such events allow students to connect to and learn from their peers in new and meaningful ways.

“Hopefully those who attended understand that not everyone’s experience is the same despite the similarities we see from the surface,” she said. “These events will help foster a community where students feel seen, heard, and accepted.”