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Inspired by Loyola Maryland and the #BodyPosi movement, Moezidis’ campaign is “part of a bigger movement”

By Ally O'Connor '20

Embodied in a poster series displayed throughout the whole of the �����ƽ�� campus, the #BroncoPosi movement, created by Ciara Moezidis ‘21 (Political Science and Communication), strives to emulate the best of the #BodyPosi movement. With hopes to “encourage love, promote positivity, and increase solidarity among groups,” the campaign serves as an informative representation of “how students should strive towards education, not ignorance.”

In February of last year, Moezidis attended the IgnatianQ conference at Loyola University in Maryland, which included 28 Jesuit universities and aimed to discover how students could best be allies to those in the LGBTQ+ community. There, Moezidis learned that Loyola University had created a campaign inspired by #BodyPosi, in which magazine covers featuring students had been placed on campus in hopes of destigmatizing challenges with mental health and advertising the university’s psychological services. Inspired by Loyola Maryland’s project, Moezidis returned to �����ƽ��, where she serves as an Associated Student Government (ASG) senator, and proposed the idea to her fellow senators.

“#BroncoPosi is more than just a hashtag or poster,” the ASG website states. “It is a part of a bigger movement to foster a campus of inclusion by recognizing that diversity broadens intellectual and experiential capital in both academic and social settings at �����ƽ��.”

Over the course of a year, Moezidis’ original campaign idea grew and evolved, garnering support and assistance from ASG senators, the Office of Student Life, the Center for Student Involvement, the Multicultural Center, many registered student organizations across campus, and other students including Beshoy Eskarous ’20 (Management Information Systems) and Julia Green ‘19 (Communication and Ethnic Studies) who serve respectively as #BroncoPosi’s photographer and photoshop manager.

On January 16, 2019, Moezidis and her team held a launch party in the Benson Atrium, and soon thereafter organized a Difficult Dialogue with �����ƽ��’s Office for Multicultural Learning. For the following eight weeks, the magazine covers highlighting �����ƽ�� students of various identities rotated all over campus and students tabled each week to discuss the featured group.

Upon reflection, Moezidis shares that she “definitely considers #BroncoPosi a successful project that, just like everything, has room for improvement.” Moreover, she explains that “now that these groups have been highlighted, I want to ensure that we are hearing the voices of these students to create tangible change for �����ƽ�� for years to come.” This campaign is an ongoing project for Moezidis to which she brings great passion. Currently, she excitedly notes that she is now working on a “Benson Workers #BroncoPosi edition through SCCAP since Benson Workers are Broncos too!”

Moezidis’ work has not gone unnoticed, as she has been the recipient of three Bucky Awards from the Center for Student Involvement (Event of the Year, Bronco of the Year, and the I MUA Award which recognizes progressive leadership on campus), the Council on Inclusive Excellence Award, and ASG Member of the Year. Further, �����ƽ��’s Vice President of Human Resources, Charlie Ambelang, was so impressed with her work that he invited Moezidis to present at a recent faculty and staff new-hire orientation session.

Moezidis will be spending this summer and fall in Monterey, CA and Washington D.C., working in Congress as the 2019 Panetta Congressional Intern through the Panetta Institute of Public Policy.