On Friday night, Ashley Marceus felt visible.
As more than 100 students interlocked their arms and swayed from side to side in the Reitz Union, called swag surfing, she knew she found a family.
“We were allowed to really be ourselves, to have fun together,” she said. “When we swag surfed, it was so symbolic, it epitomized us together as a family unit.”
Marceus is one of four lead coordinators for PAACT, a revitalized orientation program for incoming black freshmen. The program, which stands for Pledging to Advance Academic Capacity Together, tries to prepare black students for their UF experience, the 20-year-old UF African-American studies and political science junior said.
Nearly 180 students participated, along with 36 peer mentors, Marceus said. Students were connected with mentors to discuss academic resources, involvement opportunities and the social scene.
Marceus said participating in PAACT helped her fulfill her life’s purpose — to help the black community.
“You have to invest in the next generation and invest in a way that’s going to be continuous,” Marceus said.
She said the program was vital to supporting and guiding black freshmen.
“Had they not had PAACT, they would never probably be in a room again with this many black freshmen,” she said.
The program was introduced on campus in 1998 but disappeared in 2010, said Will Atkins, the executive director of Multicultural and Diversity Affairs. He doesn’t know why it ended.
Atkins participated in PAACT as an incoming freshman and said he thought it was the one of best experiences he had while at UF.
After conducting the Black Student Affairs Taskforce to survey campus climate, Atkins saw students wanted more connections with peers and faculty.
“Many students shared they were proud to be Gators, but part of the reason they were proud to be Gators was because they were surviving the Gator experience,” he said. “And we didn’t want that to be the only story about being a University of Florida student as a black student.”
To fix this, Atkins decided to revitalize PAACT and started planning in Summer 2016. He hopes the program will help with recruitment and retention of black students.
Faith Stewart-Mason, an 18-year-old UF theatre freshman, said she liked the chance to talk about shared experiences.
“It just gave us more resources than we would at regular preview, because it was specifically for us,” she said.
Stewart-Mason said being a freshman can be daunting, but the program helps.
“It gives black students a place to be at UF,” she said.
