Constanza “Connie” Cabello’s hope for implementing change has come full circle.
A native of Chile, the Latina and first-generation college student from an immigrant family knew that she wanted to give back, do meaningful work and change systems that create barriers and challenges for people to be successful.
Cabello acknowledges that her family always expected her to go to college. She initially entered school intending to become a lawyer.
However, after she became involved in a number of student leadership positions in cultural organizations and Greek life, and after speaking with a supervisor while serving as a student organization peer adviser in the student activities department, a new interest to enter higher education emerged.
Fully aware of the challenges of being an underrepresented student on campus, Cabello planned to mentor and coach students and serve as a source of “inspiration, hope and guidance” for them to succeed in higher education, she says.
“As I’ve come up in the field, I’ve recognized that some of the reasons I initially wanted to go into law and policy were to impact change for underserved communities, and I find myself doing that in my work in higher education now,” Cabello adds. “It kind of came full circle.”
Now in her role as director of the Office of Intercultural Affairs at Stonehill College, Cabello takes an asset-based approach — as opposed to a deficit approach — to serving her students that come from underrepresented backgrounds, focusing on the “unique skills, talents and experiences they have that make them remarkable,” she says.
