#CaltechTogether: Abby Jiang

“In the past, the Caltech Center for Inclusion & Diversity [CCID] would do some kind of event outside the Red Door Café for National Coming Out Day. This year, as a team, along with other student leaders and Taso Dimitriadis [associate director of CCID], we were talking about how it's often really hard for people to go to events where there isn't a set agenda, where it’s just ‘let's show up and socialize.’ The whole idea of Zoom fatigue came up, so we created a presentation called Queer Me Out!, where speakers from the Caltech community talked about their experiences in STEM and their coming-out stories or just their experience of being an LGBTQ+ person in their career or field. The speakers were grad students, postdocs, and JPL staff, and it was really awesome for undergrads and everyone else in the community to hear them sharing their stories. We're hoping to host these events every term. Beyond that, I've been trying to just be there for students as a support resource. There are communication platforms where undergrads can casually chat, and I think it has been really important for juniors and seniors to show up in these online conversations where the first-year students are interacting. That's been a huge deal, demonstrating that the community does exist, showing new students that there are other students who care about their well-being, even if it's really hard to experience it in person or see it manifest beyond organized meetings.”

Abby Jiang is a sophomore majoring in materials science at Caltech. She is also a student leader within PRISM, Caltech's LGBTQ+ student and postdoc association. 

#CaltechTogether is a special edition of #SoCaltech spotlighting the many ways members of our community are joining together to support one another and to take responsibility for our collective health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.