Here at Hope, there are so many great clubs and extracurricular activities that you can get involved with. In an effort to highlight some of them, I will be doing a “spotlight” on one of them from time to time. In this post, I’m going to talk about one of my favorite clubs, the Black Student Union!
BSU is one of several organizations associated with the Office of Multicultural Life on campus. Other ones include Hope’s Asian Perspective Association and La Raza Unida for Latino culture. The main purpose of BSU is to talk about issues concerning the black culture around the United States, the world, and at Hope. The meetings this semester have focused around topics such as interracial relationships and black experience. What some students may not realize is that BSU is welcoming of ALL students. It is not meant to be exclusive, or for one racial group to complain about their problems, but rather to facilitate dialogue, promote understanding, and bridge existing gaps.
Something you may not know is that I am the vice-president of BSU. I’m so thrilled to have this position and I have had so much fun working with the rest of the students on the executive board this semester. My responsibilities include assisting the president, Chris, in any way that he needs help, as well as coming up with ideas for future meetings. It can be a lot of work sometimes, but it is always worth it when I see students at our meetings enjoying one another’s company and talking openly about the topic at hand.
One of our most successful meetings this semester has been our Soul Food Night. Every once in a while, BSU will have a meeting that consists of making a bunch of food associated with the black culture and inviting the campus community to eat with us. It’s basically one big potluck and it’s delicious. As you can tell from the picture, we had a ton of food. Luckily, about 60 people turned up to eat it all, so we didn’t have many leftovers. I can’t even begin to describe how yummy all of it was!
The events next semester are going to be centered around Black History Month, which is February, and on topics of racism. If these topics sound interesting to you, I highly encourage you to get involved in BSU. Hope to see you there!
-Rachael