Meet Asli Abdi '25

Creativity helped this communication studies student step into the spotlight

When she arrived on campus for her first year at Hamline, Asli Abdi '25, of Willmar, Minnesota, found connections everywhere she turned. From making early friendships in the pre-orientation Pathways Program to joining the Hamline African Student Association (HASA) and becoming a first year representative in the Hamline Undergraduate Student Congress (HUSC), she quickly immersed herself in Hamline's "hometown feeling."

"It's been really fun getting to meet all the upperclassmen. They show you the ropes, how to navigate the social life here," said Abdi, a communications studies major and nonprofit management minor.

Just a few weeks into the school year, HASA held a showcase for students to celebrate their African and/or Black identities, complete with a fashion show, musical performances, and poetry. Abdi decided to share some of her own creative writing—she'd started writing poetry near the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, when a supervisor at her job at a coffee shop in Willmar encouraged her to explore her creativity. "She really inspired me," Abdi said. "I'd written informative, persuasive pieces, but I'd never written something creative before."

On the day of the showcase, Abdi was all nerves, but that vanished onstage. Sharing her poetry was fantastically rewarding, she said.