DENVER – The NCAA's Diversity and Inclusion Social Media Campaign is this week, and MSU Denver's student-led group will be part of it.
 
"We've had all our teams send in videos and quotes in terms of what belonging means to them," said women's soccer player Emi Matalon, president of the Roadrunners' Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee. "We'll have a word bubble for what belonging means and how to show people how they are supported and included."
 
The three-day NCAA campaign is "Understanding they Why" on Tuesday, "I Belong Because …" on Wednesday, and "A Shared Responsibility" on Thursday.
 
Tuesday's theme answers the question "why do I support others who have different identities and experiences?" Wednesday's exercise defines "why belonging is important to foster inclusive excellence within a team or athletic community." On Thursday, the task is "sharing institutional and individual responsibilities and action steps for fostering belonging and inclusive excellence."
 
MSU Denver's group was formed two years ago. It can be followed on Twitter/X at @MSUDenverDEI.
 
"We came up with our mission statement the first year," Matalon said. "We set the foundation and came up with some things that we wanted to accomplish. Then last year we really hit the ground running."
 
Last year, the Roadrunners sent three student-athletes – Matalon, fellow women's soccer player Ella McGahey and men's basketball player Luke Jones – to an NCAA forum in Indianapolis.
 
"We found out that we are ahead of a lot of the other schools in the country," Matalon said.
 
The MSU Denver group meets twice a month and brings awareness to various causes, such as Every Child Matters, Indigenous History Month, Women's History Month, Black History Month and Pride Month while also providing support for Roadrunners student-athletes.
 
"We emphasize that we are a safe space for any topic related to diversity, equity and inclusion," Matalon said. "We want to educate as much as we can, and learn, as well as tackle any issues that people bring to us."
 
The rest of the officers for the 2023-24 academic year are vice president Maya Woods (women's soccer), secretaries Maximo Lawlor (men's tennis) and Laci Roffle (women's basketball) and social media manager Kailani Nuhn (women's soccer).
 
The group is setting the standard for the future.
 
"I hope that we are able to continue to address the common things and then as the years pass we can continue to do that and add more things as issues arise in the world," Matalon said. "We want to learn and grow and take care of our people."