Founded in 2002, the Binghamton University Association of Mixed Students (BAMS) continues to build and foster community for students with mixed-race backgrounds and heritage.

The organization’s core values are diversity, awareness, unity and empowerment, according to Caitlin Tucker, president of BAMS and a senior majoring in environmental policy. She described the challenges BAMS’ founders experienced on campus, including belonging, navigating their identities and representation within existing multicultural groups on campus.

“While there may be other cultural or ethnic organizations on campus, BAMS provides a unique space for individuals with diverse backgrounds to come together, share their stories and support one another in navigating their identities,” Tucker wrote in an email. “BAMS serves as a bridge between different cultural groups, fostering understanding and unity among students from various backgrounds. It provides a platform for raising awareness about the complexities of mixed heritage and advocating for the inclusion and representation of mixed-race and mixed-ethnicity individuals within the broader campus community.”

In 2023, the organization won the “Bridging the Gap” award at the Student Association President’s Dinner, an honor given for connecting and celebrating diverse communities.

Through general body events and collaborations with other campus groups, including the education minor and the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, BAMS celebrates cultural holidays, educates the campus community and provides a social space for students to connect and destress.

Both Tucker and Matthew Baker, the organization’s treasurer and a senior majoring in mechanical engineering, mentioned BAMS’s “Microaggressions: Diversity is Strength” event as a major success. The event centered around students sharing their experiences with microaggressions — everyday comments or actions that communicate a derogatory or negative message to another because of a group they belong to — as well as speakers and presentations, catered food and an open art gallery.

“This event helped spread awareness about microaggressions that people on campus have experienced and brought people from the multicultural community together,” Baker wrote in an email. “The planning for this event truly brought me out of my comfort zone and was the culmination of several months’ worth of work, most extensively with the [then-treasurer]. This work then helped me to serve as the treasurer this year to help BAMS flourish in the multicultural community.”

According to Cristaly Alfaro, one of the organization’s fundraisers and a junior double-majoring in sociology and Spanish, BAMS fundraises by holding events — including plant potting — that draw a crowd and allow its members to create a safe space for those looking for community.

Kayleigh McGeeney, one of BAMS’s senior advisors and a senior double-majoring in mathematics and history, expanded on the organization’s growth during her involvement.

“When I first joined BAMS, we were a small organization, but now we have grown so much from what we used to be,” McGeeney wrote in an email. “I appreciate our dedication to having weekly meetings, and we even threw an event last year when I was president. I cannot wait to see how much BAMS will continue to grow.”

This year, BAMS events have included educating the campus community about xenophobia and racial profiling, a celebration of music from around the world, boba making, lantern making in observance of Lunar New Year and a discussion about inclusivity in media. The organization also participated in the SA vice president for student success’s “Chalk the Vote” event in November.

“It has been so incredibly rewarding to watch my E-Board grow and evolve throughout the years,” Tucker wrote. “Most of us are from different backgrounds, so we all have our own unique perspectives and experiences. When we get together to solve problems, brainstorm [and] show support, you can really see how special it is to be a part of a group made up of such diversity. Our goal is to spread this kind of acceptance and collaboration to the entire campus.”

Editor’s Note: Bella Daidone, Pipe Dream’s managing editor, is a senior advisor for BAMS. She was not involved in the writing of this article.