Opal Polanco

Opal Polanco `26 says she’s Grinnell’s number one fan. “I wanted to go somewhere where I felt like I’d be accepted and I would still be comfortable, but I would definitely be pushed. And it’s been really good for me in that way. I always like to tell people that I’m the number one Grinnell fan because I really, really love this place,” she said. 

Polanco is an economics and political science double major with a policy studies concentration. 

As the leader of Smash at Grinnell, Board Games Club and Diversity and Inclusion Club in Economics (DICE), she integrated herself deeply in both the academic and the fun parts of college.

Polanco said that the Board Games Club has been one of the most important things about her time at Grinnell. As the leader of the club, she spent time organizing a subsection of the club — a weekly session of Blood on the Clock Tower, which is a social deduction game. Most of the time, she held the role of storyteller, which she said is similar to being a dungeon master in Dungeons & Dragons. 

On the final night of Blood on the Clock tower, the group would end by going to the Student Government Association (SGA) Midnight Donut event, which she said was a fond memory and a wonderful way to end every semester. 

“Board Games Club fulfills a role on this campus of like, it meets on Saturdays at 7 p.m., so it’s there for people who don’t really want to go out and party very regularly. Clock Tower specifically, the thing that I run, has just such a wonderful group of people,” she said.

Trans at Grinnell was another essential part of Polanco’s time at the college. As a self-proclaimed extrovert, she enjoyed regularly investing time interacting with the people in the club’s community. 

She first transitioned when she came to Grinnell, coming out in the class Discord before even arriving on campus. She said she values Grinnell’s accepting environment. 

“It’s allowed me to experience not the whole range, but a much broader range of girlhood, and that transition into womanhood much, much slower and with a much more methodical pace than I would have if I had not gone here,” Polanco said. 

Polanco finds happiness in the small beauties and simplicities that come with being in Grinnell. “I’ll be sitting in the HSSC atrium, and I just get the sense that there’s nobody in the world who is happier than I am right now. And I just get so full of happiness and joy at the life that I’m living,” she said.

In the fall of 2024, Polanco brought back DICE, with the goal of making the economics major more welcoming for students of diverse backgrounds. “The econ major has certain stereotypes about not being great for people of color and for queer people and things like this, and for women. So I think that DICE is really important,” Polanco said. 

DICE provides a mentorship program for prospective economics majors to connect with upperclassmen who can offer advice on navigating the major, as well as support and motivation to mentees. DICE was also able to do a trip to meet some alumni in Des Moines and speak with them about their experiences, Polanco said. 

Polanco hopes that incoming first years continue to integrate themselves in the community and attend events. 

“Don’t be afraid to be the only person who you know who’s going there and then just meet people while you’re there,” she said. 

“Board games, clubs, places like this, these are wonderful places where they’re small enough that if you go, people will make conversation with you. They’ll ensure that you’re well kind of cared for socially in that way,” Polanco said. 

While taking ENG-205: Craft of Fiction, Polanco discovered writing as a surprising new hobby. She said she hopes to spend time after graduation improving her writing skills. Beyond that, she said she plans to continue meeting new people through games like Blood on the Clock Tower and listening to other peoples’ stories.

She said that while she may not have a job lined up yet, she felt like Grinnell has put her in a place where she knows that eventually, she will be happy, which is a priority. “Long term, it’s always just about finding a place where I’ll be happy,” she said. 

Polanco said she values building her independence and confidence. “I’m hoping to be able to develop myself into an adult who is self-sufficient and who is confident in the way that she goes about the world,” she said.