Jessica Alvarez

Two years into her internship at the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA), has made it clear that she is in her element  working alongside students to promote change at Exeter. In addition to her work in the OMA office, Alvarez is a Dunbar Hall  faculty resident and a club advisor for the women of color affinity club Transitions, the Latinx affinity group La Alianza Latina (LAL) as well as Queer Kids of Color. Before Alvarez began her career at Exeter, she held a position as a college advisor at the Union High School, a Title I school in rural North Carolina, where more than 70 percent of the students qualified for free or reduced lunch. She was also the sole Hispanic faculty member in a school where almost half of the students identified as Hispanic. Alvarez was moved by the struggles she witnessed in the public school system. “If it wasn’t for me [and the other Spanish-speaking faculty], there could have been an entire population that was disregarded in terms of having the ability to receive an education,” Alvarez said. After moving on from this position, Alvarez found her way to Exeter through a friend who happened to be an Exeter graduate. Her friend informed her of a job opening at the Academy, and Alvarez, looking for a new chapter in her career, decided to apply. “When I read the job description, it felt like it was what I was doing at my previous high school minus the actual college advising,” she said. Through the internship, Alvarez hoped that she could continue her work with students of color on a different level. “I felt that, by doing this job, I could make more of an impact working towards diversity, equity and inclusion on an official, slightly bigger scale,” Alvarez stated. Transitioning from a job at a Title I high school to an internship at a generously endowed private boarding school  was a drastic change and left an indelible impression on Alvarez. “It was like night and day,” she said. “The biggest thing that struck me was how much wealth is prevalent here and how much people don’t recognize it.” In the school district where she had formerly taught, funds were sometimes so low that teachers had a limit to the number of pages they were allowed to print. In addition to the wealth gap between Exeter and Union High School, Alvarez was also surprised by the way students welcomed her at the Opening Assembly. She was especially confused by the unfamiliar snapping coming from students for herself and a few other faculty members. Later, Alvarez learned that the snapping was for the newly hired faculty of color. “[That day] was illuminating as to what I was walking into, but it was nice to be accepted by a certain population already for just being who I was,” Alvarez said. In her current position at the Academy, Alvarez helps plan and strategize programming, offers support to students and designs advertisements for OMA-sponsored events. Dean of Multicultural Affairs Sami Atif commended her work with the Academy over the past two years. “Each day I find different ways that she has impacted the larger community,” he said. “When I think about the work that she has done, it’s not only serving as support to the office working with students but is absolutely critical in terms of work we do with the students outside of the office.”Atif also praised Alvarez’s ability to balance listening with being vocal. “I admire her position to be a bit reserved and appreciate how she takes time to gather insights from others before committing to a certain opinion or position,” he said. “She wears her identity on her sleeve and has never been quiet about those things.”The skills Alvarez uses in the OMA office also apply to her roles outside of the office as an adviser of three affinity groups. She works closely with co-heads of both LAL and Transitions to foster a community within the clubs and address topics during meetings that are not as discussed in regular classes. As a queer faculty member and leader of the Queer Kids of Color affinity advisor group, Alvarez serves as an active mentor to students of color who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community. "I'm honored that I can work with these students to build a space where all aspects of their identities are appreciated, because I didn't have that growing up,” she said.In her time at Exeter, Alvarez developed close relationships with some Exonians. Senior Gillian Allou compared her relationship with Alvarez as to that of siblings. “Over the course of her two years here, I can definitely say Ms. Alvarez has become one of my rocks at Exeter.,” Allou said. “She is one of the faculty members at Exeter that I am closest to.” As a member of LAL and an OMA proctor, upper Johan Martinez has also developed a friendship with Alvarez because of his many encounters with her in LAL meetings and in the OMA office. “Our forced time together plus the fact that she is a great person really drew me to her, and it is the reason I go straight to her office to check if she is there,” he said. “Her iconic response, "gotcha, gotcha, gotcha" really makes me feel like she [gets] me.”