Interview with Saira Toppin (Class of 2009) by Nate DeMoranville

Saira Toppin ’09 discusses her upbringing in Brooklyn, New York, and how that made for a challenging transition to Brunswick, Maine. She shares how a few juniors mentored her during her first year, which helped Toppin adjust to Bowdoin. She credits this mentorship with encouraging her to carve out space for herself on campus as an Afro-Latina and also to look out for others once she became an upperclassman. She shares stories from her time on the boards of both the African American Society and the Latin American Students Organization (LASO). As co-president of LASO during her junior and senior year, Toppin helped the organization have an impact on campus by organizing Latin American Heritage Month event Fall. She made sure to mentor underclassman so that they could run the club in her absence and considers LASO to be her legacy.