Senior Paul D. Best has worked for Ball State’s Office of Admissions for four years. Every summer, he helps with the Summer Scholars program, which brings minority high schoolers from around the state to campus for a taste of college life. They live in the residence halls, explore campus dining options, attend classes, and hang out on the quad, then return home with an idea of what their futures might hold.

It’s not about getting them to consider Ball State when it’s time to choose a college, though it’s great when that happens. Summer Scholars is about making sure these students believe college is a choice they can make, no matter their race, religion, physical ability, background, or bank account.

No matter who you are, college can be for you.

That’s what diversity means to Best—a fair chance for everyone. That’s why the secondary-education major’s drawn to campus activities such as Kappa Alpha Psi, a historically African-American fraternity, and the National Pan-Hellenic Council, organization stressing unity, cooperation, and achievement.

“It’s the sense of brotherhood, being there for each other, supporting each other,” he says.

Diversity shows itself at Ball State not just in the faces of our students and staff but in our social organizations, arts events, courses of study, educational programs, and religious gatherings. Students might arrive with a limited view of all the world holds, but it’s difficult to leave that way.

Says Charles Payne, assistant provost of diversity and director of the Diversity Policy Institute,“They’re much more prepared to live in a diverse world.”

And not just navigate that world but appreciate it—see the possibility in all its inhabitants.