Every other Wednesday, NC students of all different races, shapes and backgrounds gather in the Media Center for a Black Student Union (BSU) meeting. Over the last several years, the club has lost a significant amount of turnout and involvement in the NC community. This school year, President magnet senior Madison Aldridge attempts to change this issue.
The first meeting of the school year concluded as a semi-success, with several NC students expressing that they would bring additional friends for the next meeting. The 45-minute meeting filled the Media Center with plentiful laughter and conversation. Questions, including “What historical Black person would you have dinner with?” stimulated answers, both serious and humorous, filling the room with ahhs and snaps. The meeting ended quickly, but set the tone for the overall vibe of this upcoming school year — one filled with amazing progress for the club.
“My plans to push the program forward are to specifically promote it more on the morning announcements and to make more Instagram posts. Also, to talk to different people, especially outside of magnet and within sports, in order to bring their friends to make the program bigger. Also have it is not centralized around magnet kids like it has been in the past, so it can be more inclusive to more people. [Also] make it inclusive to more students so that they don’t think it’s just a magnet or sports club,” Aldridge said.
Expanding on the origin and purpose of the club arose as a focal point in the stride for improvement in the program this year. During this time of political turmoil, BSU serves as a safe space for students to express their thoughts and opinions and depicts the initiative that the school and the club alike care about the voices of the minority students at NC.
The program started in 2017 and immediately created an impact. The focus on community service lies at the center of the club, meaning that this aspect of the club must re-emerge at the forefront of BSU. Aldridge currently bears the weight of rebuilding community and peer involvement in the club
In the years since the club’s founding, the original prominence and access to the club have created a stark contrast to the present day. A lower presence on social media and the other ethnic club landscape caused it to become a lesser-known organization on campus. The club wants to, once again, rise to the front of conversations, including race, issues an early iteration of the club addressed. These issues sit at the top of the list BSU longs to draw attention to.
“I would probably say the community and how it brings a lot of people together. Just a lot of people with different backgrounds even though [mostly] everyone is Black. There are a lot of different places that people can be from, and it’s a very nice way of connecting with different people and different opportunities,” magnet sophomore Robyn Djormah said.
Black Student Union, a program taking strides to regain its prominence and draw higher attention to the club, slowly catches the student body’s attention. Currently, BSU strives to create a welcoming environment that any NC student can relate to and connect with. Joining the new and improved version of the club early appears as a benefit to the NC student body.
