After a whole semester of students fully running the Office of Multicultural Student Services, Ferris welcomes new director Michael Hopson and assistant director Byron Brooks into their positions.
While trying to restaff the office, the OMSS members collectively chose who gets to fill the two positions. All student workers were invited to join the final candidates for lunch and were then asked to fill out an anonymous survey after interacting with them. The survey showed that students felt Hopson and Brooks were the best fit for the job.
Hopson was previously the director of the Upward-Bound program at Grand Rapids Community College and the assistant director of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics program at Michigan State University. When he heard that the OMSS Director position at Ferris was open, he knew this was an opportunity to utilize his leadership skills.
“This job was a good fit for my goals which are being able to enhance and improve the lives of students,” Hopson said. “I want to be able to help students become who they see themselves being.”
One of Hopson’s goals that he hopes to achieve for OMSS as their new director is to expand and improve relationships with the campus community.
Hopson said. “I want this to be an opportunity for all students to have a voice, a sense of belonging and a place here on campus, where they can pretty much have their needs catered to on the emotional, social, academic and personal level.”
Hopson wants to make OMSS a much friendlier place for students to come and “let their hair down.”
The new assistant director Byron Brooks is a Ferris alumnus and also a previously experienced leader. Fellow alumni who have seen Brooks’ leadership skills in action encouraged him to apply for this poisition.
“I thought this would be a good opportunity to pour into the next generation of leaders on Ferris’ campus,” Brooks said.
Brooks has spent the first week on campus trying to “connect” with the students and OMSS members to begin the process of “building relationships” on campus. As a new campus member, he has felt welcomed and wants others to feel the same.
“My first step is connecting with the students, finding out what are some of their needs and then doing what I can to utilize my power as a resource to break down barriers,” Brooks said. “And also to build bridges across campus to be able to forward to the students throughout their collegiate journey.”
Although Brooks has a lot planned for OMSS, his ideas don’t stop just at the OMSS office. He hopes to collaborate with many of the multicultural groups and leadership across campus so he can help support multicultural students during their time at Ferris and “spread community” to the students across campus.
“Conversations that OMSS is promoting are the conversations that need to be had all around campus, not just in one office,” Brooks said. “I want to expand these conversations outside of this office and outside of the classrooms. That way these conversations can spread across the community and our campus so that we can truly support our multicultural students.”
Health administration and public health senior Autumne Peoples has been a member of OMSS since 2019 and has been the student manager since 2021. As she’s looking forward to this new era of leadership, she’s also excited for OMSS to have a “great support system.”
“OMSS is our home away from home so having a director and assistant director again makes a huge difference.” Peoples said. “They can help the students get connected to the people and resources they need and when they need them.”
With Hopson and Byron in office, Peoples feels like things are going to get “back to normal.”
“I want OMSS to be a place where anyone can come, not just one group of people,” Hopson said. “A safe space for anyone to come and just be themselves and have their needs taken care of.”