Hello everyone! My name is Melissa Collazo and my pronouns are She/Her. My intended major is Business Administration with a focus in finance. I am a little on the quieter side, but I will have no problem getting to know any of you if I am approached or we have to work together! I enjoy listening to music, going to concerts and on bike rides in the summer.

I tend to use a lot of observation and reflecting in certain situations in order to understand a group or behavior. If the case is that someone I know is upset whether it be a friend, family member or coworker, I’ll always observe how they’re feeling first and hear them out. Then, I’ll reflect and put myself in their shoes to get an idea of what I would feel like, had I been in their position. It helps me to better understand the situation without creating false assumptions and worsening the situation. Even while growing up I always gave people the benefit of the doubt instead of judging them based of a reaction because at the end of the day we all have emotions, and are freely allowed to express them as long as no one is hurt in the process. I also work with animals and through my time of working with them, I’ve noticed that some may not trust us because we are nothing like their owners. That’s completely understandable as they may think we’re there to hurt them or their owners will never come back. I’ve noticed that typically rescue animals are the most untrusting of us since I’ll observe their anxious behavior in the kennels, but as I reflect I realize that that’s all they’ve known in animal shelters. That being the case I try to gain their trust as much as possible so they don’t believe they’ve been abandoned again by their owners.

A particular group that has stood to me recently is immigrants. Due to recent events, I have been worried about the community around me. I’ve seen multiple social media posts about ICE agents being seen around my neighborhood. I know it’s not just my area they’re coming after and I’ve seen the innocent people that have been struck by them just because their so angry about those who protest and speak up about the current situation. It has angered me deeply knowing how hard any community has been fighting for the justice of our people. I truly believe it’s so messed up the way they’re going about this. By that I mean that people shouldn’t be going missing or dying in the process of this. Families should be kept together and parents who are caught should be able to take their kids with them or even get the chance to say goodbye. Family members should be able to keep in contact with those who are being deported. It’s a shameful system and I will continue to keep updated with it in hopes it ends soon and stops attacking our people.

Something I am excited to explore in this course is other cultures, not just based off race/ethnicity but to learn more about the past generations. I look forward to doing the first essay with the interview. I say this because it’ll give me a chance to maybe interview someone who lived in a war or someone who crossed the border and how their story strongly impacted their life.