Senior to Watch: Yolanda Richards
Ioana Patringenaru | February 25, 2008
Yolanda Chioma Richards
Major: Urban Studies and Planning
College: Thurgood Marshall
Family:
Mother Felicia, father Samuel and two sisters, Felicia and Sammy
During her junior year, Yolanda Richards made a bold move: she went to study for a year in Ghana. She came back convinced that all students should get the opportunity to study abroad. She’s been advocating for this cause ever since.
“There is so much beauty in other countries,” she said.
Richards, an urban studies and planning major, works in UCSD’s Education Abroad Program office. She also is a resident advisor at Thurgood Marshall College and has served as an orientation leader. After graduating, she plans to serve in AmeriCorps. Then, she will be off to graduate school.
Richards said her dream is to open a center in the inner-city where children who don’t have many opportunities, would be able to study music. Learning music also would help students do well in school, she said.
Richards does a great job at striking a balance between academics and activism, said Pat Washington, a lecturer in the ethnic studies department. Richards is taking her class about ethnic diversity in the city. “She’s the role model of the student activist,” Washington said.
Washington has been teaching Richards for just one quarter, but the senior has quickly stood out. For starters, she has sat in the front row from the beginning of the class. She doesn’t hesitate to speak up in front of her fellow students – all 130 of them. Her commitment to studying extends beyond class, Washington said. “She’s one of the rare students who take you seriously when you say it’s important to come to office hours,” the professor said, half-jokingly.
Washington and Richards discussed many topics during these office hours and the professor seems to have had a good glimpse of her student’s character. “She is very grounded about who she is, as a woman and as a woman of color,” Washington said. “And yet she is humble and committed to learning.” Richards’ willingness to listen to other points of view makes her a good leader, Washington added.
Richards wants to learn not only to improve herself, but also go give back, the professor said. Richards said she wants to apply what she’s learned in the classroom to real-life situations.
Richards with a woman artisan in Abruri village, Ghana.
Her career at UCSD had a difficult start. She remembers coming from her high school in Chino and feeling somewhat lost. Her resident advisor gave her support and they became good friends. She also became an orientation leader, which allowed her to talk to students about getting involved. “That’s the best thing that happened to me,” she said.
Soon, she got involved with student organizations, including the Black Student Union and the Student Affirmative Action Committee. As the years went by, all her friends became these groups’ leaders.
Meanwhile, her academic career also went in a different direction. She started off wanting to study engineering. But though she loved math, she found she didn’t have a passion for that major. So, she took a wide range of classes to try and figure out what to do next.
Richards said she found she cared deeply about racism and poverty. She took an urban studies class about health disparities between different communities. It really made an impact on her, she said. She became an urban studies and planning major, with minors in history and African studies.
Then she headed to Ghana in her junior year, during the 2006-07 academic year. She lived at the University of Ghana, in an all-girls dorm. There, she said she learned to appreciate all the daily comforts Americans take for granted. The electricity would go out, the water would stop running. She would have to wash her clothes by hand.
Richards also said she made an effort to immerse herself in Ghana’s daily life and interact with local residents, rather than stick with expatriates. And even though she was of African descent, she found she stood out, because of the way she talked and the clothes she wore. But she made friends and said she learned to respect cultural differences.
Richards, fellow U.S. students and Ghanaian orientation leaders.
She also said she fell in love with Ghana’s culture and its food. She enjoyed her stay and found herself acting in student plays. She played Moses’ mother in “The Prince of Egypt” — and the snake too.
When she came back to UCSD, it sometimes felt like everyone was living in a bubble, she said. So, she started advocating for studying abroad. She now gives talks during classes, listing the top 10 reasons to study abroad and advising students on destinations and financial aid. She points out that she actually saved money by going to Ghana, because tuition and daily life were cheaper there. Above all, she encourages students to go abroad.
“It’s so important,” she said.
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