Multicultural and multiracial students have the opportunity to come together and pot plants in a celebration of Valentine’s Day.

Two or More is a new student-led organization on campus with a goal to “make students who identify as more than one race, with at least one of those races being marginalized, feel more comfortable on campus and make sure that they have a space where they can be themselves,” according to their website. 

President and junior public health major Lydia Sherman said she started the organization last semester because she did not see a place on campus where everyone could be heard. 

“I thought it would be good to start something where people of any type of background could go and feel welcome,” Sherman said. 

Kasey Johnson, senior visual communication design major and graphic designer of the group, said while there are groups to promote diversity on campus, multicultural students can be overlooked. 

“There’s a stereotype — people have already called us the ‘mixed kids’ club,” Johnson said. “Being mixed, or biracial or multiracial, it can be invalidating when you speak to one of your identities and not the other.” 

Tiera Moore, English and political science major, and secretary of the group, said she grew up in a predominantly white community, where everyone saw her as one identity: Black. Coming to college, Moore said she was looking forward to coming to college and being in a more diverse environment, but it wasn’t until she met the other board members of Two or More that she felt completely welcome.

“As multicultural people, we face more challenges than people think,” she said. “They think we have it easy because we can fit into one environment or the other, but there’s a lot of challenges because no matter what, you never fully fit into either group.”

Two or More’s purpose is to bring people who have felt like never felt like they fully fit somewhere together.

“It’s only natural to come together with people who understand each other,” Johnson said.

The group is holding their second event of the semester, Growing Love, Thursday, Feb. 6 at 6 p.m. in the Student Multicultural Center. They will be making Valentine’s Day cards that will be donated to University Hospitals Portage Medical Center, as well as potting plants. 

“The event is going to be about growth,” Moore said. “Especially since it’s the beginning of the semester, and our organization is new, we want to grow it. And, you get to take home a potted plant.”

Contact Kimmy Daniels at [email protected].