RCAH Senior Aaliyah Buell Enhances Engagement and Wellbeing at MSU and Beyond

December 7, 2022

• RCAH student Aaliyah Buell ’23 has become the project director for Grit, Glam, & Guts as well as director of RCAH’s Community Wellbeing Series.

• GGG is a statewide non-profit youth empowerment organization that works with girls aged 12-17 to develop a healthy self-awareness and self-identity.

• The Community Wellbeing Series offers strategies to acknowledge, support, and celebrate the reclamation of Black girls and women in history and culture, while providing approaches to improve the overall health and wellbeing of members of RCAH communities. 

 

By Chrystel Lopez '23

Rare are the times when an undergraduate student is tapped to fill the shoes of a departing faculty member. 

When that undergrad is senior Aaliyah Buell, however, the wisdom of the choice is obvious.

Buell stepped up to the plate in September 2022 after Dr. Kevin Brooks, the former Academic Specialist for Diversity and Civic Engagement in RCAH, announced he was leaving to take on the role of director of the Mary V. Jordan Multicultural Center and Student Access and Success at East Tennessee State University. His last day at MSU was September 29.

In the wake of his departure, Buell–who is graduating at the end of December 2022–became a project director for the Grit, Glam, & Guts (GGG) girls empowerment program and director of RCAH’s Community Wellbeing Series. Buell had been Brook’s mentee for years, assisting him with organization and programming for GGG and the Community Wellbeing series. 

An RCAH community partner, GGG is a statewide non-profit youth empowerment organization that works with girls aged 12-17 to develop a healthy self-awareness and self-identity. Buell, a Lansing native, has become the project director for the Grit, Glam, & Guts Greater Lansing Area Citywide Chapter, as well as the coordinator for a new GGG chapter still to come. 

The Community Wellbeing Series, presented online each month, offers strategies to acknowledge, support, and celebrate the reclamation of Black girls and women in history and culture, while providing approaches to improve the overall health and wellbeing of members of RCAH communities. 

The next Community Wellbeing event is tomorrow at 6 p.m., Thursday, December 8, 2022, hosted by Buell and featuring RCAH professor Tama Hamilton-Wray in a panel discussion of the film “Waiting To Exhale.”

RCAH Communications senior intern Chrystel Lopez ’23 interviewed Buell about her augmented responsibilities:

 

 

RCAH: What RCAH programming have you been a part of during your time in the College? 

Buell: In March of 2021, I co-led a community engagement project within an RCAH course centered around health and wellness. Students were presented with the task of establishing civically engaged spaces that would help us to serve Grit, Glam, & Guts. The task was to help GGG students establish a creative project that would allow them to express themselves through empowering activities. 

RCAH: How did it go?

Buell: As a class, we decided that creating a virtual magazine would be a great method for completing this course project. From this, the opportunity emerged for me to begin an administrative internship working with GGG.  

RCAH: How have your roles changed since Dr. Kevin Brooks’s departure?

Buell: My role within the space of the Community Wellbeing Series transformed greatly since Spring of 2021, in parallel with my work at GGG. When I first began working with the series in March 2021, I was commissioned to design the flyers, which stemmed from my work in graphic design leading the magazine project for the health and wellness course. Following this, I was invited to become a featured panelist representing the student voice. This evolved into me becoming the undergraduate research assistant for the space in August of 2021, which has allowed me to work and conduct research exploring the question, “How can we curate sustainable, safe spaces for Black girls and women to engage in culture in professional and academic settings?” Following the departure of my mentor Dr. Brooks to East Tennessee State in September of 2022, I became the director of the Community Wellbeing Series.   

RCAH: Why is it important to you to be a part of these organizations? 

Buell: These organizations have not only changed my life, they changed me for the better. They have guided me into carrying out my purpose and provided me with a framework through which I can continue to do the work that I was called to do. They have pushed me to grow and evolve in more ways than I ever could have imagined.  

RCAH: Have they also impacted your college experience in RCAH and at MSU?

Buell: They have allowed me to connect with others and apply all that I have learned during my time here in RCAH. They have granted me an abundance of affirmation and encouragement that I am in the right place and on the right career path.

RCAH: How are you balancing your extracurriculars on top of class–and it’s your final year in RCAH? 

Buell: It is very busy managing all of my extracurriculars on top of class, while simultaneously preparing to graduate–but I am driven! I make it a priority to stay organized and maintain the commitments that I make. I am very grateful and filled with joy and excitement for what the next chapter holds for me. Through this I am able to succeed and achieve the goals I set for myself both academically and occupationally. Further, I am surrounded by an abundance of love and support from my beloved family, friends, and community members.  

RCAH: What are your future plans and goals after graduation? 

Buell: I hope to continue doing community work following graduation. I want to be a resource for my community and work to empower others through voice the curation of safe spaces. I am also hoping to attend grad school and am currently looking into different programs that align with my passions! I am very eager to pour into my community as they have done for me!

 

The next Community Wellbeing event is tomorrow at 6 p.m., Thursday, December 8, 2022, hosted by Aaliyah Buell and featuring RCAH professor Tama Hamilton-Wray in a panel discussion of the film “Waiting To Exhale.”

 

The Residential College in the Arts and Humanities (RCAH) is a beacon among Michigan State University’s heralded learning communities, named best in the nation among public schools by U.S. News & World Report for four consecutive years. RCAH’s unique “living-learning" community offers the advantages of a small-college, liberal arts education with all the opportunities of a major Big Ten university. RCAH students hone the key skills that are most in demand by employers today by examining critical issues through the lens of culture, visual and performing arts, literature, community engagement, social justice, history, writing, and philosophy. RCAH graduates’ 99 percent placement rate into careers or graduate school is the best at MSU. Find out why: Visit rcah.msu.edu, email rcah@msu.edu, or call 517-355-0210. 

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