Where ambition meets opportunity

Description of the video:

[Upbeat music plays.]

[Video: The face of a Black male student, Joa’Quinn Griffin.]

Joa’Quinn Griffin: Hey, you. Yeah, you.

[Video: Joa’Quinn is wearing his backpack near limestone structures on Indiana University’s campus. Other students walk by. Joa’Quinn leans forward to speak to the camera.]

Joa’Quinn: This is all about you.

[Video: A choral ensemble stands in a plaza ready to perform for a seated audience. The camera focuses on Joa’Quinn, who is a member of the ensemble and turns his head to the camera.]

Joa’Quinn: Maybe you're looking for something more.

[Video: Joa’Quinn works on a project at a table. A female student holding a remote-control car walks up beside him.]

Joa’Quinn: Something real.

[Video: An overhead shot of an outdoor dining space showing people seated around circular tables, eating a meal. Joa’Quinn looks up.]

Joa’Quinn: A place outside of textbooks.

[Video: Joa’Quinn operates a large TV camera. Three production assistants stand behind him.]

Joa’Quinn: To find something new.

[Video: Joa’Quinn jumps feet-first off of a high-dive platform into a pool of water. Three students hold up signs that say ‘10’ at a table that says ‘Jump into Finals.’]

Joa’Quinn: Like ‘Who needs a mascot?’ new.

[Video: Joa’Quinn wears red and white candy-striped overalls and walks by seats in a stadium while fans cheer. The scene shifts to a person holding a smartphone, and the phone shows Joa’Quinn and two other students posing for a selfie in front of the Eiffel Tower. The scene shifts to Joa’Quinn walking past a professor, and they slap hands. The scene shifts to an aerial view of a large mural painted on a street that spells out Black Lives Matter. The scene shifts to Joa’Quinn holding a paint roller and standing with five other students.]

Joa’Quinn: Candy-striped, horizon-breaking, mentor-finding, world-changing new.

[Video: Joa’Quinn is serving a customer at an outdoor food booth featuring fruit and desserts.]

Joa’Quinn: Wait, what even is a Hoosier?

[Video: The camera pans to show a group of students who stop in their tracks. One student has a puzzled look on his face. Another drops her books. The scene shifts to Joa’Quinn in a suit and tie, sitting at a conference table with several other people.]

Joa’Quinn: Why don't you show us?

[Video graphics: Indiana University and the IU logo.]

[Music fades.]

[End of transcript.]

At Indiana University, it’s all about the power of you. Just ask Joa’Quinn Griffin, a Groups Scholar whose passion for social justice, entrepreneurial spirit, and motivation to help others have helped him make an impact in the classroom and on campus.

During his time in Bloomington, the Michigan native and first-generation college student has seized nearly every opportunity presented to him—from supporting students as a resident assistant and co-leading the creation of IU’s Black Lives Matter mural to singing in the African American Choral Ensemble and running his baking business, Crack Snax. And that’s not all. Joa’Quinn has led the IU Student Government’s diversity, equity, and inclusion committee and has helped budding entrepreneurs.

A lot of people ask, “What is a Hoosier?” Read Joa’Quinn’s story and find out.

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I think IU is a great place to find yourself and discover who you are. There are so many opportunities and resources that you can take advantage of to help you excel.

Joa’Quinn Griffin