Campus Celeb: Stephanie Arias
Graduation year: 2017
Major/Minors: Occupational Therapy | Spanish
Hometown: Skokie, IL
How would your friends describe you?
I would think that my friends would describe me as enthusiastic and attentive to their feelings. I usually have a lot of good energy to give off and willingly do it to anyone I run into. My friends could also confirm that I try to be considerate of their feelings. A few years back I read something on Twitter that really influenced how to be a better friend (and human being). It went something like: “People won’t remember what you said, only how you made them feel.” Makes simple sense to me!
What is Muskietigers in a nutshell?
Muskietigers is a new club on campus where we tutor international students at Withrow High School and plan events and workshops on XU and Withrow’s campuses. Many of the students that we work with of alternate citizenship status (refugee, immigrant, asylum seeker, unaccompanied minor) which creates an interfaith, intercultural and social justice experience for Xavier mentors and Withrow mentees.
What made you want to bring this to campus?
Xavier University does a great job of developing its students into leaders within and outside the Xavier community. As the program developed last year, I saw that the mentors in our program were also becoming leaders and feeding their social justice interest. I brought it to campus to make it more accessible for Xavier students and to build on its networks with other clubs and associations that have similar missions. Since last year, we have opened more doors for both Xavier and Withrow students as both students work on their leadership skills.
Why, in your mind, is Muskietigers an important thing to commit time to?
Muskietigers is a great club to commit to if you want to find your “niche” on campus. It offers many growth opportunities for under and upperclassman. It is such a fresh project that we can practically take any angle that a student proposes, such as focusing on ACT prep or doing a migration awareness event on XU campus. Muskietigers involves people outside our Xavier bubble and as mentors we become active citizens of the world, proactively working with migration matters. We make memories with some incredible students, develop culture awareness and witness growth within ourselves and the people we work with. Though it’s a semester long commitment, the more time you commit, the greater the rewards come to be.  Â
How can people not in the club support what you’re doing?
We have several mentors who can’t commit to the weekly tutoring slots. They help out by attending weekend events, evening events and the monthly meeting. Because it is a growing, student-led club, their feedback is really important for program development. We are also looking to collaborate with other clubs to bring more resources to our mentees. We have already collaborated with XU Athletics, XU Admissions & African Student Association. Generally, people can support Muskietigers by being informed on today’s migration issues, especially since the refugee “crisis” has been a major headline in today’s news.    Â
How can interested potential members get involved?
Orgsync! All our resources, announcements, emails and information are on there. After they have added themselves to the club, they should contact me for a quick debrief, a CPS certification (free), and details for the GroupMe.