George Chang

What are some challenges that you feel students of color might face at CSUF?

I feel like finding the right community with other members of your ethnic background can be pretty challenging for students of color here. There are social clubs on campus centered around ethnic identity but sometimes the members of those clubs may not share the same values or same vibes as you. I think it’s also pretty challenging for people of color to learn more about their own cultural background outside of college classes for the same reason. But this is coming from my own experience as Burmese-Chinese-American who wanted to learn more about the Chinese side of me, so it could be different for other cultures too.

 If you were to complete the statement “I am not” how would you complete this statement and what is important to you for others to know. 

I am not another immigrant from a nameless country with a needlessly complicated identity.

If you were to complete the statement “I am” how would you complete this statement and what is important for others to know about you?

I am someone with a rich cultural background, offered by the depth of my intersectionality that I’m privileged to be born with.

In your work as Undergraduate Course Assistants, as you’ve reviewed the students work what things you learned from either the research, the narratives or the illustrations? What are you inspired to do as a result?

I learned from the students that they are really articulate about the ideas they’ve held growing up and that they’re not afraid to express themselves on it, whether it be through something more objective such as research, or more subjective as art. As a creative person myself, I feel inspired to spend more time pursuing the creative side of me so that I could join them in expressing myself to the world.