2017 Pursuit of Inclusion Student Award Recipient: Kimiko Miyashima

It is our honor to award this year’s Pursuit of Inclusion Student Award to Kimiko Miyashima. She has developed an environment that embraces and promotes diversity among her peers and within her office. Kimiko is a student in the Education Leadership and Policy Program here at the U, where she challenges her peers with ongoing dialogues around diversity.

According to her nominator, “She is fully present when others speak, and listens to their narratives in order to grow, learn, and understand where an individual is coming from. She pushes the dialogue by sharing her own personal thoughts and experiences, and never shies away from difficult conversations.”

Kimiko has been with Orientation for almost two years and oversees the Crimson Mentor Program, where she meets with students to discuss topics of inclusion and social justice, creating a space for dialogue and open communication.

This semester, Kimiko has been an intern at Utah Presents, where she has collaborated with other departments to offer and promote inclusion and diversity related issues through educational outreach at events both on and off campus. Utah Presents has been so impressed, that they have requested that she travel with them to New York City to scout new, diverse, and inclusive performances for their 2018-2019 season.