Students Abroad: Kamilah Gumbs

With so many Caribbean students studying overseas, it is important as a community to highlight these experiences, to learn about the journies of our young students, and help foster a larger community abroad. This feature highlights a local St. Maarten ambassador, Kamilah Gumbs. Many of you may know of Kamilah due to her involvement in the Girl's Brigade and Youth Parliament on St. Maarten. Currently, she is studying in the US. Below is our interview with Kamilah about her experiences abroad.

Tell us a little bit about yourself?

Who is Kamilah and what inspires her?

This question is always extremely hard for me to answer. At face value, I introduce myself as Kamilah Gumbs, a Black, Queer, Caribbean Woman, who has a passion for community development and enrichment. Of course, after that, there are various layers to peel. Kamilah the Student Body Vice–President is someone who loves policy and is willing to make the university a better place for current and future students. Kamilah the former president of the Sint Maarten Youth Parliament and political science major is someone who is into the workings of politics and policy again and is dedicated to understanding the various systems. Then there is Kamilah the creative, who uses her slight background in communication to run her blog, record a podcast and write stories, a lot of stories. Finally, there is Kamilah who vibes, cooks, and is obsessed with all things basketball. These different layers make up about myself. What inspires me to continue to grow in these areas is wishing to see better change in our community.

Where do you currently study?

What influenced you to study overseas?

I am attending Wichita State University, in Wichita Kansas. I decided to study in the US for one simple reason, I couldn’t live in Europe. I personally was not mentally prepared for the super dark winters. I also knew for me to have the best overall college experience, I needed a system that promoted campus life. This led me to Wichita. The funny thing about it is people always ask me, “gyal why Kansas?” I wanted someplace different “affordable” and as someone who loves sports and basketball, this school was already known to me due to the school’s men’s basketball team final four run in 2012.

What was your journey like preparing to study overseas?

My journey was a long one. I graduated high school in 2016 and I decided that I needed a break. I was preparing to take a gap year. I already did the SATs through my high school (St. Dominic High) and applied for study financing. All I needed was a full confirmation from the university and started to apply for my visa. Life happened. Plans were pushed to start school in Spring 2018, but Hurricane Irma happened. That pushed my initial start date back by a year. Dealing with Hurricane Irma's physical and emotional aspects and trying to make sure I get into school was stressful. There were countless days I was hoping something would pop up. I got my acceptance letter at the end of November when I just got back electricity and I remembered crying because of all the tension I was carrying for those couple of months. The process to officially get my student visa started, but let me tell you, it was expensive. I got lucky since I had an opportunity to go to Curaçao for a conference and did the entire visa process there. After that, it was booking the flight and heading to Wichita.

What do you study?

What are your aspirations with this degree?

I am a political science major with minors in communication and sociology. I am really into policy writing and community development, so I aspire to find a position or even positions where I can do both.

What was your journey like moving abroad?

The journey of moving abroad wasn’t bad. My mother came up with me, and we could register into the university system and move into my dorm. I think the main struggles came after school started and trying to adjust.

What were the biggest obstacles and the greatest memories of studying overseas?

One of my biggest obstacles especially my first two years is my mental health. The first year was interesting because I wasn’t in the best living situation. I shared one room with two other people and it was the first time in my life I was away from my family. You know my mother and I are extremely close if you know me, and it really hit me celebrating my birthday by myself for the first time. My mother and I share the same birthday, so dealing with that, fully understanding how I function with depression and anxiety, and learning how to work with them was a struggle. I’ve always had great memories, but my favorite has to be game day for basketball. The adrenaline rush of going to the arena extremely early to be in front of the student line, so you rush in and try to get the best seats in the student section, made the entire thing eventful. The roar of the arena when you’re beating a rival team, to the pretty violent chants to yell to hype up your team. Game days are always the best.

How were you able to find a community overseas?

Finding my community overseas was pretty easy surprisingly. Being the overachiever I can be, I looked for the Black Student Union before I left home, and connected with the then president, who is now a pretty good friend of mine. From there and going to events they hosted, I met my best friend who lived on my floor and all of my other close friends as we bonded through sports. It was also easy to gravitate to other Black people in classes as we were few in numbers and slowly build a community from there. Lastly, I built another network through Student Government and made a connection with the people I was working with. Also Twitter, you build community on Twitter.

What do you do in your free time?

My free time is dedicated to sleep, working on my blog IslandGalTing and trying new recipes in the kitchen. I also try to hang out with friends and catch up on life.

How do you find a connection with the island despite being overseas?

My connection with the island has been through my family, friends, and politics. As a political science major, I am naturally obsessed with the nature of politics and how it functions. I’ve always been involved and had an understanding of local politics via the Sint Maarten Youth Parliament, but studying and observing have taught me a lot. This is how I stay connected to what’s happening, especially during this pandemic era when it was easy to watch Parliament in class over zoom.

What do you miss most about Sint Maarten?

I miss the beaches and the food. The other day my advisor, who is Puerto Rican, and I had an entire 20-minute rant/yelling match over all the food we grew up on, so definitely the food.

How did growing up on Sint Maarten prepare you for moving abroad?

Growing up on Sint Maarten helped a bit because we are exposed to so many different cultures that understanding certain things in America was pretty easy. Going to a smaller school also helps because if drama happens, I treat it just like I would if I was home because my university is small enough to know a good bit of people but there are enough people here for me to be like “uhh who?”.

What advice would you have for others looking to study in the US?

My advice would be to do research, understand where you are going, have your money in order (rent and tuition come first), and do not be afraid to explore, meet new people and try new things.

How can people stay in touch with you and learn more about your amazing achievements?

People can stay in touch by following me on both Instagram and Twitter @agapebruh (I apologize for Twitter in advance) and follow/like all of IslandGalTing pages @islandgalting. If you want to learn more about me, just ask and I’ll tell.