By Melanie Escalante
The Student Intersectional Leadership Council at Texas Tech is a student-led organization that works closely with the division of diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as other campus departments.
Nanette Dolera, a senior pursuing a dual degree in honors sciences and humanities and political science who also serves as the Asian, Pacific Islander, Desi, and Arab representative for SILC, said fulfilling the mission statement has been very rewarding.
“What we do is we foster an inclusive environment here at Texas Tech by increasing visibility of marginalized communities on campus so everyone here feels at home,” Dolera said. “There’s the LatinX community, we have APIDA representatives, womens’
Nanette Dolera
Photo Courtesy of Nanette Dolera
representatives, Indigenous peoples representatives, LGBTQIA representatives, Black African representatives, and international students.”
In light of Women’s History Month, SILC is hosting a campaign called Phenomenal Women of Texas Tech that highlights women who have inspired or impacted the Tech community.
Dolera said the campaign allows for people in the Tech community to nominate a woman involved on campus by March 25 where the women’s Her Story committee will then review applications.
“It’s just like nice to know someone out there recognizes you for your hard work,” Dolera said. “Doing things like bringing visibility to women on campus is not an easy task so having someone see how much effort and how much passion you have to elevate other women here on campus — it’s inspiring.”
Michelle Merida, senior business management major and Spanish minor, said at the time of her nomination she was the only student assistant for sorority and fraternity life, she was on her sorority’s executive board, she was an ambassador for the Rawls College of Business, and was taking 15 hours.
“I think definitely being involved in a lot of organizations during peak Covid — Covid hit like my sophomore year — so being really involved and trying to make a difference on campus and trying to make a difference in the community virtually was just really difficult sometimes,” Merida said. “I really like being able to interact with people but seeing that all my efforts were still being noticed or still making a difference was just honestly really really humbling.”
Michelle Merida
Photo Courtesy of Michelle Merida
Merida said last March when she was nominated she translated the fraternity and sorority life brochures into Spanish in preparation for red raider orientation.
“I’m just a really big advocate for having accessibility for whoever needs it so I felt fortunate enough to speak Spanish and be able to translate that. That was a really big project and really important to me and still is really important to me,” Merida said.
Merida said a phenomenal woman is someone who is kind; a trait that is often undervalued and misconstrued.
“Personally, I don’t feel like you have to tear down other people to be successful. I think a phenomenal woman is someone who paves the way for other people and tries to move up the ladder while also trying to bring people up too,” Merida said.
Stacy Caliva, associate director of the department of advancement, said it was an honor and a surprise to be nominated last year.
Caliva said she was a masked rider during her time as a Tech student and now sits on the advisory committee for both High Riders and Raider Red.
Stacy Caliva
Photo Courtesy of Stacy Caliva
“I was nominated — I’m pretty sure — by one of my former students in High Riders who I think very highly of and I think that we should always be advocating for our women on campus and beyond,” Caliva said.
The associate director from Sanger, Texas said she takes her role as an advisor seriously and tries to be a support system for the spirit group members in whatever capacity they need.
“I hope they know that they can do anything they want to and the world is their oyster. I hope they know the power they have as a woman and as a human and that they know they can achieve anything that they can dream,” Caliva said.
Caliva said a phenomenal woman is someone who forges their own path and does the same for other women.
“What a phenomenal woman means to me is someone who has such a deep understanding of themselves; she knows her strengths and weaknesses and utilizes her skills and organizes them in a way so she can help advocate and encourage others while remaining firm in her conviction,” Dolera, APIDA representative for SILC, said.
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