text: In your own words, how would you describe HDIA as an organization, and what is its primary mission within the Honors College?
  HDIA is an organization that promotes and encourages discussion on social justice issues, diversity, and minorities. We network with other organizations and faculty/staff to cosponsor events with hopes of recruiting and retaining new members into the Honors College and HDIA. Our primary mission within the Honors College is to recruit minorities into the Honors College to create a more inclusive and diverse student body.
  My role as Co-president in HDIA is to lead our meetings, plan events, coordinate with other Honors College organizations, and promote diversity and inclusivity within HDIA and UMKC. I’ve been a member of HDIA since it was established last fall.
  An exciting project that HDIA has been working on for many months now is a guest speaker lecture event. Dr. Hawley, a geneticist from Stowers, kindly donated his time to lecture about discrimination in science, and how genetics play a role in discrimination. My hopes for this event are to shed light on a type of discrimination not many people think about.
  I decided to involve myself within HDIA because I find it important to discuss some of the issues people face everyday in regards to discrimination, stereotypes, biases, and I enjoy brainstorming solutions to these issues. HDIA creates a space for me to voice my opinions about these issues and also gain new perspectives from other people. I find that every meeting I learn something new from my peers. It also allows me to use the solutions HDIA comes up with to combat some of these problems that occur within UMKC and the Honors College. By being co-president, I am more deeply involved with the organization and find it easier turn my thoughts into actions.
  Honors College sophomore Josie Pennington is the President of Alpha Lambda Delta, and she wants you to join! She recently answered a few of our questions about the organization, and what it means to her: