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 Ģ������ƵStories      February 26, 2025

 

By Cam Adams

Mekeila Santiago remembers her mom hounding her to get involved before she even stepped foot inside a classroom at Ģ������Ƶ.

“My mom was like ‘I know you. You’re going to stay in your shell,’” Santiago recalled. “‘You need something to kind of branch out, meet people, even if you’re not friends with them.’”

For the Jacksonville resident, it started with Project CARE, a mentorship program, and as the months on campus piled up, so did her involvement. Now as a senior, her resume is stacked with a number of leadership positions in plenty of campus organizations.

That work is fulfilling for Santiago, and it’s how she made the most of her time at WCU.

“It's in me to just do something, be a part of something, and if I have the free time to do it, I'm going to do it,” Santiago said. “I'm paying to be here, I'm going to maximize my time here.”

As a criminal justice and emergency and disaster management double major, Santiago is an ambassador for both of her majors’ departments and clubs while holding an executive role in both.

She is also a Chancellor’s ambassador, a resident assistant, a member of Alpha Lambda Delta, and she was formerly a mentee and mentor at Project CARE and an ambassador for the Brinson Honors College.

Santiago even helped cofound an organization, the Brinson Honors College Diversity Leaders. But the student org that’s been the most rewarding? The Intercultural Affairs council, one that Santiago helped revive when she was a freshman after membership declined during Covid.

“We brought it back from nothing, and now, almost four years later, come August, we've done like a whole 180,” she said. 

“We've rebranded essentially in terms of reaching students that have never even heard of ICA, never even knew what the department was, where it's located on campus, the resources that it has available to students.”

Though the job market looks a bit shaky, Santiago is determined to get a job as graduation looms. However, she knows the skills she’s picked up — both inside and outside the classroom — at Ģ������Ƶwill serve her well after graduating.

She’s a 4.0 student after all.

“Education wise, I'm content. I'm happy,” Santiago said. “I feel like the professors in both my departments, they care about the students, they care about what they're teaching and they try to help the students.

“They really mean it when they say you can develop that relationship with a professor because they want to help you, they want to better you, they want to help you go past these four years and have the career you want.”

Just weeks before she walks across the stage at the Ramsey Center, Santiago looks back on her four years of college and doesn’t feel an ounce of regret. She spent her time in Cullowhee giving back, getting involved and leading.

Through all the meetings and through all the events, there’s this one note she holds close to her heart. A freshman, who was also Hispanic, gave it to her when she was a junior on a Project CARE retreat.

“‘I’m so happy I saw you, and I’m so happy that I got to meet you, especially my freshman year being new on campus,’” Santiago recollected from the note. “‘I didn’t think coming to a (predominantly white institution) I would see someone who looked like me.’”

Over a year later, Santiago still keeps that note, and it reminds her of the impact she’s leaving behind.

“It's little things like that where I know I did good,” Santiago said. “I know I've made an impact on people, and I know I'm continuing to not only better me, but help better the experience of others… I wouldn't redo my college experience. I think it was really good.

 

“If I did redo it, it would simply be to say ‘yes’ to things earlier in my four years here.”