Aalanah Valentine

Beyond the Bell Tower

TRIO Student Support Services and Student Support Services STEM is an organization that provides a supportive community for an underrepresented and under-resourced demographic at NC State – the low-income, first generation students. In this community, students feel safe, understood and supported. Outside of this community, however, it’s hard not to feel judged. Because in a society where social justice has reached an all-time high, with support for marginalized groups like minorities, the LGBT community and women, we still need to have the conversation about why our society hates the poor.
Aalanah Valentine and Riki Dows are TRIO students who know this feeling of being judged all too well. In this episode of “Beyond the Bell Tower,” Aalanah and Riki talk about the stigma society has of the poor, share their own personal struggles with being low-income on an elite campus like NC State and prove to anyone listening that they don’t have to be ashamed of their background. They hope to inspire low-income, first generation students to be proud of where they’ve come from because it’s the reason they’re here today and to show them that no matter where they’ve been, their strength is going to take them amazing places in the future.