On Nov. 15-17, eight members of Bellevue College’s Black Student Union members will be attending the National Black Student Conference in Chicago.
In order to be able to attend this event, those who wished to go had to submit an application and an essay. A total of 18 BSU members applied and after those applications and essays were reviewed, there were eight students selected to take the trip and to hold a leadership position in BSU this year.
The National Black Student Conference has been held for the 16 years. The purpose of the past conference is to engage and stimulate research and discussion between Black Student Unions across the country. The members who attend the conference will be put in a professional environment that allows them to learn about the social and political impact that BSU can have on campuses.
The students who were selected to attend the conference are Taylor Anderson, the BSU director; Gary Hunter, the BSU social media manager; Mikayla Matters, the BSU secretary; Joel Allen, the BSU treasurer; Salina Abraham, the BSU fall events manager; Tradon Jordan, the BSU spring events manager; Taylor Johnson, the BSU winter events manager and Japgurjap “Prince” Singh, the BSU volunteer coordinator. They will be accompanied by BSU adviser Krischanna Roberson.
Roberson knows that those selected to attend the conference will reflect the BC BSU, and BC as a whole, in a positive light.
“We have a dynamic group of students whose ability, knowledge and life experiences range which speaks to the overall student body of BC. There are students who have performed in leadership positions and others who have not, students who are first year, second year and third year members. There is a student who is on a STEM path and others who are liberal arts majors, in addition to the differences in life experiences, to the CEO students and to the students who come from affluent backgrounds,” said Roberson.
The eight students who will attend the conference will not only get to work with other BSUs from around the country, but it will give them an opportunity to learn about networking and community improvement. For each session, the students have to report and then come together to create a plan for implanting what they learned for the BC BSU and will also create a presentation which will be open to the campus to display what was learned and to share the experience, Roberson said.
Anderson said, “Basically, I hope to bring back to BC kind of how to build our foundation strongly because what we’ve had in the past years have not been very secure and things change a lot, so I want to gain how to set up a structure for the BSU and how to make things happen so that it stays consistent and things are growing and getting better and not restarting every year.”
“I’m most excited for the students to experience a national conference and gain a learning and awareness that will allow them to incorporate what they learned with their own creativity for implementation into making the BC BSU better,” said Roberson.