Talking with Women Leaders of CHC: Ashley Braziel Builds Community Through Honors Events

Content

Before crowds of dancers swarm the Latinx Heritage Month Fiesta and rows of students line up for the annual Daffodil Lecture, Ashley Braziel works tirelessly to plan Commonwealth Honors College events that uplift a sense of community on campus. 

“Feeling like you have some sense of human connection is what is important,” said Braziel, the coordinator of events and programs for the college. In the words of Braziel’s favorite musician, Harry Styles, organizing Honors events means creating spaces where students “find a place to feel good.”

“Harry can bring people together and create this safe space at his concerts where people feel like they can be their authentic selves and be joyful and happy,” said Braziel. Her love for Styles’s brand of kindness reflects how Honors events prioritize students’ well-being in and out of the classrooms.

“Our students work so hard and are so involved in co-curriculars. I think they're so committed to their academic success that they don't always get a chance to focus on other aspects of their life,” Braziel said.

"If we can provide programming that helps to support learning outside the classroom just as much as learning inside the classroom, I think that's the goal. It's a different kind of learning, but it's very valuable."

Braziel maintains an open-door-policy in her office, but she works all across campus, from organizing the annual Honors Plenary Lecture in the Student Union, to the CHC Events Hall where she ensured the Black Heritage Month celebration went off without a hitch. She leads a team of staff and student workers who power CHC programs and takes pride in their collaboration.

“It doesn't all lie with me,” Braziel said. “It's a lot of folks who have their part in making all those kinds of events come to life.”

Events Planning Process

Braziel executes Honors College programming alongside associate dean of student recruitment, inclusion, and success Ann Marie Russell and student event assistant Dilan Churchill. The trio relies on input from Student Ambassadors and House Council leaders to represent the “voice of the student body.”

“We do a giant brainstorm at the end of each semester for the next semester of ways that we can enhance programming, thinking about what the needs are for students,” Braziel said. “We really try to rely on student feedback to give us ideas of what they want to envision.”

Once Braziel, Russell, and Churchill develop a calendar of events based upon student feedback, Braziel says her role is “making sure that what they're envisioning is executed in a way that students find appealing.” She keeps in touch with student leaders to stay true to their programming needs.

“We are intentionally trying to work more with House Council in the CHC Residential Community,” Braziel said. “We want to make sure that the experiences in the residence halls and in the classroom all seem cohesive.”

Braziel has witnessed the power of connection between classmates and neighbors at Honors events. 

"At the Latinx dance event, there were some folks who lived on the same floor, and they didn't realize it. You could see the relationships fostering and forming."

Before Latinx Heritage Month in October, Braziel looks forward to welcoming first-year students to UMass during the annual CHC Induction at the beginning of the fall semester.

“It's just a beautiful moment between everyone, and there’s excitement in the air. I think that people are excited for this new chapter of their life,” Braziel said, noting she loves when students accept their Honors pin.

“A lot of parents or families or friends of students, during the pinning ceremony, get to physically pin their student, and it's a really beautiful moment,” Braziel said.

The CHC Induction is also the first event of the year for Braziel’s Student Ambassadors, a team of student workers who lead admissions events for prospective and admitted Honors students.

“It's always nice to see our student staff teams come together to be able to put on an event, and a lot of times, our student staff are the speakers,” Braziel said, recalling how she knew 2022 speaker Carlea Dolcine since Dolcine was a first-year student. “It was just so beautiful to see the growth of our student staff.”

Helping Students Apply to the Honors College

Braziel encourages prospective UMass students to attend the Ambassadors’ admissions events.

“Hearing the student experience based on the Ambassadors’ lived experience is going to really give you information you need to know if UMass and CHC is a good fit for you,” Braziel said, but notes that “if you don't come to one, that's not going to decrease your odds” of getting into CHC.

Braziel says UMass admissions officers look for well-rounded applicants when building a class of Honors students.

“It's not necessarily about academics, like school test scores or GPA, that they're looking at,” Braziel said. “They really want to see someone who's holistically a really well-rounded student and that can articulate in their essays an excitement and a passion for learning because that's who they envision a CHC student being.”

Braziel continues planning events for the spring semester and looks forward to an upcoming block party celebrating students’ accomplishments during the 2022-23 academic year.

"We're really just envisioning people to be able to come together in community and enjoy all these nice activities and food and to be able to relax and celebrate the end of the year."