Womxn of Colour Network (WOCN) is designed by and for women of color. The primary mission of the club is to connect women at Iowa State with similar backgrounds and use each other as mentors or role models.

This year, the student organization hosted its annual fall retreat, along with a variety of collaborations between different multicultural organizations.

“In the Womxn of Colour Network, we understand and recognize everybody’s different cultural identities and backgrounds, and we want everybody to feel accepted, loved and safe within this organization,” Lauren McDonald, social media chair of WOCN and a junior in animal ecology, said.

WOCN hosted its annual retreat Sept. 29-30 in Des Moines.

“We are fortunate enough to host a retreat for women of color at Iowa State, and I think that is our big impact,” Claire Haas, social chair of WOCN and a junior in electrical engineering, said. “We are able to take a bunch of girls, expose them to nature, and a bunch of self-care tips and tricks to help them succeed in life.”

WOCN collaborated with UNIDAS, an organization that fosters connections in the Latinx-identifying women community at Iowa State, in October, hosting an event surrounding Hispanic Heritage Month. The event featured trivia facts related to Hispanic women of color and women of color that have made an impact in history.

Members of WOCN also said they hope to host more events in the future.

“We had a pretty good turnout for that, and it also led me to get some feedback from girls in the community about what they want,” Haas said, adding that the club may host a dance night in the future and other new events for campus outreach.

WOCN also collaborated with Zeta Phi Beta Sorority this academic year, a historically black sorority at Iowa State, to host an informative bullying prevention presentation.

“Within that event, we had focused on bullying awareness, and once [Zeta Phi Beta] had come in and presented to our members how to be aware and how to deal with bullying and some resources that campus does have,” Laurna Lindsay, president of WOCN and a junior in human development and family studies, said. “It provides more resources for our members to add to their list, and in case they know anyone or if they’re experiencing bullying themselves, they know where they can go.”

At the spring 2024 ClubFest, WOCN began meeting more clubs and working to collaborate through outreach and awareness.

“We’re like, ‘hey, we’re a support group wanting to support other women and clubs just as much as we can,’ because we’re a minority in the university, we want to push ourselves out there, be like, ‘hey, here we are, we want to promote women,’” Jadyn Sheppard, vice president of WOCN and a junior studying landscape architecture, said.

McDonald said WOCN provides a safe space, and group members want to connect with students’ best interests in mind. McDonald said WOCN strives to highlight the individuality of members within the group.

“During your college studies, we want you to succeed and thrive. We are an outlet for all women of color here,” McDonald said. “We all are from different areas of the world and from different backgrounds in general, but at heart, we are all the same. We’re all women, and we all go through similar challenges.”