Kicking off a fun-filled week to start fall semester at Wright State University, The Black Presidents Council hosted Black Welcome Week.
“All, if not most, of the black organizations on campus came together to plan a welcome week targeted to the African-American/African-descent students on WSU campus,” said Precious Claytor, president of Black Student Union (BSU). “The purpose is to continue to promote unity within the Black community on campus [as well as] visibility on campus.”
Organizations such as BSU, Black Women Striving Forward (BWSF), Association of Black Business Students (ABBS), Student Union (ASU), African-American Resident Caucus (AARC), National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) hosted several events each day of the week.
ASU and BWSF teamed up to host Round Table Talk, an event with hopes of inspiring and encouraging freshmen to make the most out of their time at Wright State.
“The talk was geared towards freshmen,” said Tara-Yesomi Wenegieme, president of ASU. “We encouraged upperclassmen to come to share their stories, advice, as well as opportunities and resources on campus to use in order to succeed. We wanted to see why they decided to go to college and what they hope to get from WSU and the community as well as organizations on campus.”
Other events that took place during the week included The Black Org Pitstop, hosted by BSU, The Road to College, hosted by BWSF and ASU, Academic Decoded Series: Welcome Reception, hosted by NPHC, Ice cream Chill out, hosted by AARC and ABBS, and Roadside BBQ, hosted by NAACP and NSBE.
“For our collaboration event with ASU we wanted to have a round table discussion about expectations, goals and reasons for coming to college,” said Savannah Jackson, president of BWSF. “With the help of upperclassmen and student leaders, our event succeeded in providing an inclusive and ‘less-stressful’ discussion about college life. When collaborating the event, our intention was to inspire students to create goals/expectations. Hopefully our event impacted those who came and inspired them to be proactive about the school year.”
“The NPHC Academic Decoded Series is an annual series that happens through a collaboration with the student success center and their academic services,” said Claytor. “The series usually takes place once a week throughout fall semester. Each day in their series covers topics like studying tips, math help, and paper revisions, etc. The actual Academic Decoded Series- Welcome Reception is just an event where students can get to know NPHC members and more information about the series. There should be icebreaker games and more. This series is something NPHC prides themselves on, because all nine Black Greek Letter Organizations promote higher education especially in Black community.
