News and Spotlights
Dominque Stevens shares her story about why she chose Grand Valley
October 08, 2018
Domonique Stevens
What's your major? Social work.
Any minors? No.
Where are you from? I'm from Chesterfield. It's pretty much as far east as you can get from here.
What year do you expect to graduate? April 2019.
When Domonique Stevens sees people in distress, she becomes even more resolved to pursue a career that will find ways to ease human suffering. Her time as a social work major has offered her the opportunity to conduct fieldwork in Texas to help with disaster relief while also forming meaningful connections with her professors, helping her more deeply understand her studies. Watch Domonique discuss her overall experience at Grand Valley.
Domonique is a big advocate for getting involved with campus activities and believes Grand Valley’s atmosphere makes it easy to do so. She plays trombone in the Laker Marching Band and works extensively with student organizations, including her sorority and the Gayle R. Davis Center for Women and Gender Equity. All of these experiences have enriched her time as a Laker and helped her build long-lasting relationships.
Why did you choose to come to Grand Valley? 1:32
I chose to come to Grand Valley because it was the perfect mix
between a big school but also a small-school feel. I like the idea
that you're so close to Grand Rapids but you still have the
secludedness of Allendale and the average class size is 26, so that
was really nice to me too. It's funny whenever people ask me that
because I did not want to go anywhere else. I think I applied here and
to Wayne State and it was 100 percent I am coming to Grand Valley.
Now that you're here, what are some of the things you love best
about it? 2:07
I love how much the professors care about you, especially getting
into the social work program, I feel like the professors are just so
personable and they understand mental health. They understand that
sometimes you're just having a bad day and they're willing to work
with you with that. And then just the fact that if you want to be
involved in something you can just go up to someone and say, ‘Hey I
see that you're in this, can I be in that?’ It's so easy to do
everything that you want to do here.
Tell me some of the things you're involved in here at Grand
Valley. 2:48
I'm involved in the Laker Marching Band, I play trombone. I'm
involved in Greek Life, I'm in Alpha Omicron Pi, and then through that
I became involved in the National Panhellenic Conference--NPC. For
that I'm on the E board and the Panhellenic E board pretty much is,
they just look over all the sororities. I'm also involved with the
Women's Center. I do pep talks. I give presentations to the student
organizations on campus. Explain what it's like to be a part of
the marching band. What's that experience all about.
4:35
It is my favorite thing about Grand Valley's campus, to be
honest. I was in marching band all throughout high school and so
coming here I knew 100 percent I'm going to be in marching band. My
marching band back home, it was a family atmosphere. I know that not
all marching bands are like that, some are super competitive and super
strict, and so I was nervous about coming here. I remember during the
audition, Dr. Martin and I talked about his puppies for an hour and I
knew right away, OK, I'm joining another family. It's given me so many
leadership opportunities. I get to interact with people from all
different backgrounds, all different parts of the state. I get to meet
so many cool people and it's just that feeling of being a part of
something bigger than yourself and I love it.
What are you passionate about? What are your dreams? 6:47
I feel like my dreams change daily. Right now my major is social
work and with that I've just always wanted to help people. I feel like
everyone says that they want to change the world but I really really
want to change the world. Over Christmas break I got the opportunity
with the social work department to travel to Houston, Texas and we
helped out with disaster relief. We did mold remediation and just
speaking to all of these people and all of these terrible situations
that they were in, and I want to be the person that makes it so that
they're not in these terrible situations. So with social work my focus
is macro, I want to do something with policy or administration. So I
guess my dream job would be creating some policy that makes it so that
terrible things don't happen to people.
What does it mean for you to be a laker? 7:48
For me being a Laker means being involved and making all of these
connections. It's so cool how at Grand Valley you can be involved in
anything and as a social work major there's just something so powerful
about all the relationships you have, the people, and getting to be
connected to all of these people. Grand Valley lets me capitalize on
those connections.
What advice would you have to somebody with a diverse background
why they should take a chance coming to Grand Valley? What kind of
programs or benefits may we have? 9:13
To a diverse person who wants to come to Grand Valley, I would
say definitely do it because even though it is a majority white
someone's gotta stop the culture somewhere. When I came here none of
my friends had even heard of Grand Valley, so I think just Grand
Valley becoming bigger will lead to more diverse backgrounds coming
here. Definitely my favorite place of diversity on campus is Kirkhof
Center. There's always all of these different student organizations
table-ing. And I work for the Center for Women and Gender Equity and
that really is, and it really is just a center for diversity and no
matter what you're dealing with no matter what problems you have, the
people in those two offices will help you with it. Just come to Grand
Valley. I want there to be more black people here. Come to Grand Valley.
11:56
I'm Domonique Stevens. I'm a Social Work Major. I'm Greek. I'm a
trombonist and I'm a Laker.