The Access Assembly: Learning together, building friendships, and strengthening our leadership capacities

Founded in 2014, the Access Network brings together nine student-centered, university-based programs that are pursuing systemic change towards a vision of a more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible STEM community. Leaders at the Network-level and program-level are either current students (undergraduate or graduate) or young faculty and professional scientists, many of whom started out as student leaders in Access programs. Over the last 9 years, Access has brought people together (virtually or in-person) for an annual event called the "Assembly." Student leaders who attend the Assembly appreciate community-building and networking opportunities that help them build capacity for leading local site programming. Many participants report that the Assembly is a special place with a different feel than many other professional spaces. In this talk, we will share stories from past Assembly events to give you a feel for how this space operates differently. We also report on the results of a post-Assembly evaluation survey which illustrates that participants tend to feel included, make new friends, feel valued, and build confidence as leaders.