The Black Student Union (BSU) summit happened on Monday, September 18 at Saint Mary’s College.
BSU summits have been happening in the Acalanes Union High School District (AUHSD) since 2019. AUHSD brings together all four black student unions in the area for a day of community and education. This year marked the fourth annual BSU summit.
The summit started off with group ice breakers. This allowed the students to meet new people and connect with others. This year’s summit was very interactive, allowing people to make friends with people from other districts. Freshman Salem Ermias said, “It was really fun. I made new friends.”
After the ice breakers, the students met Kamau Bell who came onto the stage and the students asked him questions about what they were curious about, including his experience with having mixed race kids.
Bell is a stand up comedian, writer, producer, and director and he has three children with Melissa Hudson Bell. He has been a host for the CNN television show United Shades of America since 2016. He is a community activist and currently lives in Oakland California.
After the interview with Bell, the students had lunch. Following lunch they learned multiple african dances and how to step dance.
This year’s summit had over 100 students attend the summit, which was more than previous years. However, despite the large number of people attending this event, only about 7 people from Campolindo went to the summit. This was because most of the students had a lot of tests and coursework that they had to get done and didn’t want to miss. Not only that but most students played sports directly after school and the summit would have run long and gone into practice time.
Most of the students came from Miramonte, Acalanes, and Las Lomas as well as Walnut Creek Intermediate School, Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School, and Orinda Intermediate School.
Unlike past years they had a bigger space and were separated into groups which allowed them to communicate and relate to each other more. In the past they were all in one room and not separated into groups. They did more activities this year and had an overall good time. The president of BSU club senior Kaya Tong stated, “This one was better because we actually had a bigger room to talk to everybody and it was like table groups where previously we had been in the theater where we were just looking the same way.”
They had the summit at Saint Mary’s college for the first time ever. This was better for everyone and especially helpful for upperclassmen because it gave them an idea of how college was going to be like.
Moreover people can find out more about who they are. The intention of the summit is to help people be more aware of how they aren’t alone. Senior Sean Jimu, who is the co-president of the BSU club, said, “I think the purpose is to be more aware that you’re not the only person on campus that’s black.”
The summit also opened new windows for people of color to meet others they can bond and connect with, Ermias stated that, “It’s not that diverse here in Moraga. So it is probably really needed to have these summits. So people know more about themselves.”
