Kadeem Davis 鈥�18 came to UMass Lowell because he won a scholarship that covered his tuition 鈥攁nd for a chance to live somewhere outside his hometown of Boston.
鈥淕rowing up, Boston is all I ever knew. I never traveled to other cities,鈥� says Davis, the son of Jamaican immigrants. 鈥淎lso, UMass Lowell is very affordable.鈥�
Now, the finance major is on track to earn his bachelor鈥檚 degree and M.B.A. in five years. He hopes to work at a bank, evaluating and promoting housing and business investments in distressed communities.
鈥淚 want to use what I鈥檝e learned to help impoverished neighborhoods and help build businesses,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 feel investing is the key to making a change in income inequality.鈥�
He鈥檚 also learning the ropes of social justice here. Davis and a handful of friends started the on campus, inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and activism on other campuses.聽
鈥淲e had other black clubs, like the Association of Students of African Origin and Students of Caribbean Ancestry, but I wanted to try to unite the black community here at UMass Lowell and give them a voice on campus,鈥� he says.
Previously, Davis was a self-described 鈥渂ehind-the-scenes person,鈥� so taking a leadership role is forcing him to step outside his comfort zone鈥攁nd giving him good experience. Working with the Office of Multicultural Affairs, he laid out a plan, assembled an executive board and met with the chancellor to get official approval for the new student organization.
He鈥檚 applied some lessons he learned in a business ethics class.
鈥淲e talked a lot about ethical behavior and what organizations should do if they want to have a good relationship with the public. I learned a lot from that,鈥� he says.
As president of the Black Student Union, he鈥檚 learning about the challenges of managing people who have different expectations, too. Some students mostly want to celebrate black culture, while others are more interested in making social change. Davis tries to ensure everyone is heard so that everyone gets involved in planning both cultural and social justice events.