From making compost, to being biracial, to protesting and more, The Hype has stories for everyone.

Iowa State’s Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA) hosts The Hype, a student blog created with the intention for students to “learn about opportunities, organizations, resources and the experiences of your fellow students,” according to their website. 

On their website, The Hype also explains why they chose this name for their blog specifically. It was chosen because the word “hype” means “promotion and exposure”, which is what multicultural student affairs wanted to give students of color at Iowa State.

Iowa State alumna Natasha Hill, who wrote for The Hype throughout her years as a student, said she never considered writing for the student blog until a mentor of hers, student services specialist Denise Williams-Klotz, inspired her to so.

“I think what inspired me to write for The Hype was having someone tell me that my thoughts, my experiences and my story mattered, which is a message students of color don’t receive very often at Iowa State,” Hill said.

The Hype is a place where students of color at a predominately white institution are able to have their voices uplifted and celebrated. As The Hype is a part of Multicultural Student Affairs, their goals and values are clearly aligned. According to their website, MSA has six main values: agency and advocacy, community-minded dialogue, culturally responsible coalition building, social justice and intersectional inclusion, student development and reflection and transformative experiential learning.

Iowa State’s multicultural student affairs also hopes to be a, “national leader in effectively supporting and empowering multicultural students in their personal, community and academic development,” according to their website. These values and goals are what The Hype hopes to embody and promote through giving a platform for multicultural students’ voices online. 

Hill said it was clear to her after reading stories from The Hype that it was, “a community that was safe, expressive, and open to learning about the experiences of students who voices aren’t typically given platforms at this university.”

For many students of color at Iowa State, and other predominantly white institutions, it is difficult to find people who look like them, and can relate to similar upbringings or experiences that they’ve had. The Hype is a place for students to find other people like them; a place to connect.

“Writing for The Hype was very affirming, both as a writer, but also as a black thinker. I think many people of color at this school have experienced having their contributions dismissed or overlooked in class, in meetings, or in other group settings,” Hill said. “When I wrote for The Hype, I received messages from students who had identified with my experiences and staff who had really taken time to consider my thoughts and let me know they were thinking about it.”

The Hype is a place where students of color can be shown that their thoughts, emotions and voices matter, and receive positive affirmation from other people who relate to and enjoy their blog posts. The Hype is an important and necessary outlet for students of color, especially on a predominantly white campus where students of color are largely minoritized.

Through Hills’s experiences of fulfillment it is made clear that The Hype reinforces the goal of multicultural student affairs. Which is to, “support and empower Iowa State University’s students who self-identify as African American, Asian American, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, Latinx, Native American/Alaskan Native and/or Multiracial, and advocates for their holistic development across the University,” according to their website.

Writing for The Hype impacted Hills’s life in a powerful way.

“Having been shown that amount of support in my community that I had never been shown before was so meaningful to me. I have a space at Iowa State and a community that will acknowledge my thoughts, ideas, and presence,” Hill said. 

Baillie Frizell, also an Iowa State alumna, had a similar recruitment story to Hill to write for The Hype.

Frizell said,  “I was actually recommended by the George Washington Carver program coordinator at the time, Nancy Camarillo, to write a piece for The Hype. I really looked up to Nancy as she played a huge role in my growth throughout college, so I willingly agreed to write a piece.”

Frizell said that she had read a few stories from The Hype before and was inspired by what her own peers had to say, so she decided she wanted to share her stories and views as well.

“Writing for The Hype meant that I had the potential to positively influence others in the community who may have been struggling with the idea of stepping out of one’s comfort zone,” Frizell said.

Frizell once wrote a blog post that discussed barriers she had to overcome in order to “put herself out there” and experience new opportunities at a place so far away from home. 

“I hoped that my writing would inspire others to take that leap of faith as there is so much out there! In my experience, one research opportunity kept leading to another and ultimately helped me reach my end goal of getting into medical school—I wanted other multicultural students to know that this same type of thing can happen for them,” Frizell said. 

Frizell described The Hype as a place for, “passionate, strong, motivated,” multicultural students to post about their experiences and read about other students’ experiences from different backgrounds.

“The Hype provides a perspective to ISU students on the trials, and more importantly, the triumphs of multicultural students that may not otherwise be heard. The Hype gives us all a voice,” Frizell said.