NYU is a school known for its student-led social initiatives and impact organizations, each focusing on different aspects of advocacy, social justice, and volunteering. We sat down with Jaya Aiyer today to learn more about NYU: Reaching Out (NYU:RO), a Gallatin club that makes a lifetime impact on its participants– both literally and figuratively.
JAYA AIYER, MENTEE LIAISON
Year: Class of 2019
School/Major: Global Public Health & Anthropology (in CAS & CGPH)
Hometown: Cambridge, MA
HC NYU: Could you tell me a little bit about your organization and your position or responsibility in it?
Jaya: Yes, sure. The organization is NYU: Reaching Out. It’s a mentoring program that pairs female identifying women at NYU with young women who are in public high schools in New York City. However, we also do outreach with magnet schools and charter schools. The basic idea of the program is to give these girls the resources to achieve great success. A lot of public schools in the city don’t necessarily have the resources available for sending young women to strong colleges, or giving them tools if they don’t want to go to college to pursue their interests outside that. And the goal of the program is to be that extra support whether academically, mentally socially, to be that support for these girls in this difficult and stressful time in their lives.
HC NYU: Why did you decide to join NYU: Reaching Out?
Jaya: I was a part of Project Outreach 2015, and I remember seeing on the Facebook page that this girl named Rahni Davis had posted about this program that was seeking mentors. The week of Outreach happened, and I met Rahni in person and she’s an amazing human. I realized that this is the person whose post I had seen and she was like, “Oh you have to apply to this program”. Of course, it slipped my mind because Welcome Week occurred, then classes. Rahni messaged me the night before the application’s deadline and was like, “Have you submitted yet?” And I said, ”I’ll do it now.” I wrote my application during the night and submitted it that morning. And it’s honestly one of the best decisions I’ve made since coming to NYU.
HC NYU: What does empowerment mean to you?
Jaya: Hm…I think in the context of NYU: Reaching Out empowerment means providing support, whether it’s emotional support or just physically being there for your community and the women we mentor. We really provide them with that space to be themselves, to explore who they are, but also make sure that they know that they’re here for a reason and that they’re incredible.
HC NYU: And so how have you seen NYU: Reaching Out change the lives of the girls that participate?
Jaya: My mentee–her name is Kiara–she kind of started out not really being sure of what she wanted to do. She threw out a bunch of various social sciences that she thought she’d be interested in, but over the course of the two years in the program, I saw her go from–you know, not really being confident of her abilities to be a leader to revitalizing the black students club at her school and joining all of these awesome dance and arts organizations in the city. She’s starting her first year now at a historically black college and really finding that space for her to be proud of her identity. She’s coming in from a majority white magnet school to this really beautiful space where she can feel more open and accepting.
HC NYU: That’s so wonderful to hear! So conversely, how has NYU: Reaching Out changed you?
Jaya: Oh, wow. So it’s changed me so much. I think going in, I was really nervous about whether or not something like this would be effective, whether I could actually be someone of support for my mentee or whoever I was working with. Seeing the passion and drive of the other mentors and mentees really inspired me. I think going into my third year in the program, I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t work, like creating a mentoring program…a service organization at NYU and so I think it’s really changed me in that sense. It’s made me feel more confident.
HC NYU: In this political time, fraught with fears, phobia and sexism, what is NYU:RO doing to combat these things? How does NYU:RO prepare its girls to face the current world we live in?
Jaya: After the election, I think all of us on the E-board were feeling very broken, really sad, and upset and terrified for what the future would hold for us as well as our mentees. And immediately after the election, the meeting we had was focused on self-love, self-care and knowing that despite horrible things occurring across communities such as people genuinely not wanting us to exist, it didn’t matter because we were here existing in this community. It’s acknowledging that yes, there are horrible things in the world that have happened, horrible things that will continue to happen, but the fact that we exist, the fact that we’re here in this space is a source of empowerment and a source of strength. And I think NYU:RO prepares our mentees for these challenges just by being a source of support. The girls that are mentees in this program are truly amazing and teach us more than what we might necessarily think. I think a lot of mentors come in and see this as a one-sided educational experience, but it’s really a two-sided experience and so what I think we try to do is to teach self-love, like taking care of yourself and taking care of your mental health, which isn’t really taught in schools, because that’s something that will matter in the long run. It doesn’t matter what grades you got in high school or what college you went to.
HC NYU: As co-leader of NYU: Reaching Out this year, in which direction do you aspire to steer the club?
Jaya: So I think this year we want to go back to the roots of the program. It was started by a group of women in Gallatin who went through New York City public schools, and noticed a lack of diversity and a lack of support within the Gallatin and general NYU community, especially for women of color and those who had attended inner city schools and ended up at NYU. And so, I think they started off the program with an emphasis on growth, but also on assignments and having projects and sharing, not necessarily doing presentations , and so that’s the direction that I think we want the club to go in. I think we’re trying to work with our alumni and work with our founders to revitalize that part of it.
HC NYU: If you had one word to describe the girls that NYU:RO mentors, what word would it be and why?
Jaya: Ooh. Um. Can I do two words?
HC NYU: Sure!
Jaya: I would say incredibly inspiring. Or incredible and inspiring–or some combination of that. I think the girls that come through this program have so much drive and passion and they inspire us to be better. There are so many moments where I was having a conversation with Kiara about politics or life and following your passion, where she was just dropping all of this knowledge I had never even thought of. I think we get really caught up in hierarchies, especially as we get older. However we need to also remember that just because a girl in the program might be 16 years-old, it doesn’t mean that she has anything less to contribute to someone’s own growth and to the growth of the program. And these girls go on to do amazing things. Like we have such an unbelievably talented alumni from this program, both mentors and mentees alike.
HC NYU: How would you encourage the general NYU community to get involved?
Jaya: I think looking beyond the NYU bubble. Yes, we don’t have physical walls on this campus, but we definitely have social boundaries that a lot of people are scared to cross. Like, our mentees come from all five boroughs, we have even had girls who came from the border between the Bronx and Westchester, and New York City is just more than NYU, and the West Village. You can find communities that truly do want the support – you can truly find communities outside NYU that will help you grow as a person. Just go beyond the walls of NYU. I think there is so much outside this campus than what is depicted by the university.
HC NYU: What’s one piece of advice that you would give to the NYU:RO mentees?
Jaya: Be confident and be amazing because you already are that and just because you’ll be seeing different people from all walks of life, have confidence in who you are and where you came from, because that’s what shaped you and made you into an incredible person.
Stay updated with the incredible work NYU: Reaching Out is doing!