Regina Sarpong is taking giant strides toward achieving her career goal of creating movies for children at Pixar. She is combining classes in computer science, film, theatre and communication studies with the aim of making engaging, heartwarming and inspirational animated films.

But that’s only one side of Regina’s activities at URI. She is also committed to serving the University community and building a family among her fellow students. She is in her second year of serving on the Student Senate, first representing students in the College of Arts and Sciences and now representing those who live on campus. She says the Senate is mostly made up of people who are not afraid to express their opinions about how to improve the University, and that’s what she likes about it.

“Sometimes Senate meetings can be long and argumentative, in a debate sort of way,” she said. “It’s not beige. It’s very colorful with lots of ideas and opinions. We all care about how URI advances, so we have to be honest with each other.”

She is also in her second year as president of Uhuru Sasa, the oldest multicultural student organization on campus and one of the reasons she enrolled at URI. When Regina was 13, her sister served as president of Uhuru Sasa and invited Regina to attend some meetings and events.

“The members were really a family,” she recalls. “I couldn’t wait to go to URI and join Uhuru Sasa so I could have this close group of friends. We might not be battling the same issues as back then or as when the group started in 1972, but there’s always room to educate our peers on multiculturalism and diversity issues.”