Diversity, arts and international affairs: a winning combination for Ayana McLemore

Ayana McLemore, a business and international studies major at NC State, has served as a peer mentor in the university’s Multicultural Student Affairs Peer Mentor Program for two years, assisting four student mentees. That’s one way that McLemore has combined her interests in diversity, arts and international affairs

She has also participated in the International Friendship Program, which pairs NC State students with international students. As an Alexander Hamilton Scholar, McLemore has been involved in several additional mentoring and community service activities, including Shack-a-Thon and Service Raleigh. She also traveled to Shanghai, China for seven weeks on a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship and was a member of NC State's Vox Accalia for three years, holding the post of vice president last year.

McLemore also is also an Arts Village resident mentor. As an AV mentor, she schedules events and handles ticketing, surveys and attendance tracking for many arts events held in Turlington Hall, such as "Artist Storytelling," a recent popular program that explored the many different ways stories are used for communication and expression. She enjoys speaking about diversity, drawing, crafts, woodworking and singing. Staff at the NC State Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity, which includes the Peer Mentor Program, applaud her “achievements and global multidisciplinary perspective, as do advisors in Poole College’s Office of Undergraduate programs. – reprinted with permission.