Students have dozens of opportunities for involvement through clubs and organizations, but for the first time in the school’s nearly seventy-year history, students can now also join a Black Student Union (BSU).
The club was founded by juniors Madison Ruff, Cyre Davis, and Semira Cummings, and works with faculty members Matthew Prince, Jarrel Taylor, Stephane Longchamp, and Jamee Robinson.
“We were all sitting in history class together and talking to our teacher about Black History Month and how our school could be better about actually celebrating,” Ruff said. “We thought of a couple of spirit days and event ideas and wanted to create them. Our teacher told us we should create a BSU and we loved the idea.”
“After we had that idea, the ball just started rolling,” Davis said. After getting a couple of other students on board, finding their teacher sponsors, and filling out a form, the juniors – who already knew each other through their classes – got the BSU up and running.
The BSU aims to build an overall supportive and educational community within the school that helps students celebrate Black culture and provides an understanding space for County’s Black minority, according to Ruff and Cummings.
The BSU has plans to hold events bringing the community together and hopes to work with student unions at other schools as well as local businesses to make these events happen. “These events will achieve our goals by helping everyone come together and socialize,” Cummings said and will include activities such as movie and game nights.
BSU meetings will focus on having serious discussions about current issues and microaggressions, planning events, as well as more lighthearted activities like bringing in food. The funds the club raises will be used mostly for travel within the region to visit sites including historically black colleges and universities and museums like the African American History Museum in Washington DC, Davis said.
All are welcome and encouraged to join the BSU, which hosts meetings every other Thursday before school in room 125.
“We expect our members to help spread the word, volunteer, and plan events,” Ruff said. Council members in particular are expected to contribute to brainstorming and event planning. After only a short time, the club has an abundance of plans in the works. “We came up with a ton of ideas for the club for the rest of this year and beyond,” Davis said.
Cummings expressed her hopes for the club’s growth in the coming years. “In the future, we see people feeling more comfortable joining the club, no matter the race, and we’re hoping the BSU will be more known and talked about by others.”
For its leaders, the BSU is already providing the sense of community that they hoped to build. “I’ve met and gotten so close to so many great people,” Ruff said. “The community we have in the club is amazing, everyone is so fun to be around.”
“This club means everything to us, because there is finally a place at County where we feel as if we belong, where we can be our true ideal selves, and we can best feel recognized,” Cummings added.
