Brown & Gonzalez – Campus Leaders
Each year, the Office of Student Engagement and Leadership Development at Rhode Island College presents the Student Leadership Awards, honoring exceptional student leaders. Graduating seniors Genta Brown and Jennifer Gonzalez were two of the 2025 recipients. Brown was presented with the Vital Contribution to Community Award and Gonzalez received the Senior BIPOC Excellence Award.
Brown, an international transfer student from the Bahamas, arrived at RIC in Fall 2022 to pursue a major in environmental studies with a minor in cultural anthropology. She is described as “the heart and soul of the campus.”
She was a member of the Environmental Club, an admissions family orientation leader, a Unity Center programmer and president of V.I.S.A. (Visiting International Students Association).
These involvements, she says, helped build her confidence and encouraged her to discover new interests. She found mentors like Lehidy Frias, director of diversity, equity and inclusion; and Danii De la Rosa, interim director of the Unity Center.
She also found her voice:
“I didn’t know how to put words together, now I’m more than a one-word-answer person,” says Brown. “One of the reasons why RIC has a place so close to my heart is that it helped me form myself. Serving in leadership roles encouraged me to be the person I am today.”
Gonzalez, a first-generation Guatemalan American, is a world languages education major with a concentration in Spanish and a minor in Latin American studies.
“Transferring in from CCRI, she’s done an incredible amount of work on campus, especially for the Latine community,” says De la Rosa.
Gonzalez joined LASO (Latin American Student Organization) in 2022 and became president in 2024. She joined the Latino Summit committee in 2023 and curated the Latino Oral History exhibition at RIC’s James P. Adams Library in 2024.
Gonzalez was also involved in planning Unity Center events. She served as an admissions ambassador, led campus tours, was a member of Student Community Government since 2022 and acted as their deputy speaker in 2023-2024. Additionally, she conducted research with the McNair Scholars Program, which helps BIPOC students gain admission to graduate programs.
“Planning events and collaborating with other clubs was fun,” she says. “It was also great to be a part of a community of students who are similar to me.
“Professors like David Ramirez, mentors like Danii De La Rosa and Lehidy Frias and all the organizations I’ve been involved with have been placed in my path to help me throughout my journey here at RIC. I’m very grateful for that and happy for the opportunity to finish my bachelor’s degree here.”
Brown advises students to take the risk to try something new: “Go to that club meeting. See that event. Talk to random people. Get out of your comfort zone,” she says. “Recently, I signed up for a hockey game with the Office of Student Engagement and Leadership Development. I fell in love with it. After being a part of the wonders RIC offers, I don’t want to leave. There’s something new every semester, every week, every day.”
Learn more about RIC’s B.A. in world languages education program, B.A. in environmental studies and B.A. and minor in anthropology programs.