City College welcomed new and returning students to campus this fall semester with a Black Student Mixer held at the A building patio August 31.
The celebration concluded a week of inclusivity-oriented student mixers with the Chicanx/Latinx Bienvenida Estudiantil, Pride Hub Mixer, and Asian American Pacific Islander Student Welcome events, which were open to all students.
Several City College staff members and students spoke to those in attendance at the Black Student Mixer Thursday to promote programs on campus, which included Hermanos Unidos/Brothers United, also known as HUBU, Umoja Club, Counseling Center, Student Services, Disability Support and Extended Opportunity Program and Services.
Speakers and organizers aimed to build a sense of community for Black students at City College and promoted the multitude of resources that exist to help them succeed.
“I’m so proud to be a part of the City College family and City College village,” said Josolyn Hill, counseling center department supervisor, to the attendees. “As the African proverb says, it takes a village.”
The hour-and-a-half-long event included food, a trivia game and the opportunity to speak to representatives of different college organizations and resource centers.
Second-year psychology student and HUBU member Caleb Bryant, and Anthony Moore, a second-year applied mathematics and computer science student representing Umoja, both spoke to City Times about their respective programs’ impacts on campus at the event.
“HUBU gives … Black students, Latinx/Mexican (students) a chance to grow, to have a more empowered view of themselves,” Bryant said.
The HUBU member emphasized the importance of the organization in enabling self-expression and personal growth of its members.
Moore shared that Umoja helps Black students achieve their academic goals, underscoring unity and collective effort as key factors to its members’ success.
The mixer reflected City College’s growing effort for group representation, inclusivity and cultural celebration.
“I wish more colleges were like this one here,” said Taneja Ross, a second-year administration of justice student. “I really do appreciate the work and the ethic everyone else has put into this community and this college.”
Chicanx/Latinx Bienvenida Estudiantil welcomes hundreds
Earlier in the Welcome Week festivities, the campus hosted its first of four student mixers, receiving an estimated 300 students at the Chicanx/Latinx Bienvenida Estudiantil (Student Welcome), according to organizers.
Students were treated to drinks, popsicles, lawn games, bingo and music during the social event held August 29.
Adan Sanchez, dean of student affairs, helped organize the gathering.
“I was working the check-in table, and they just kept coming in waves and waves and waves of students,” Sanchez said.
LGBTQ+ community welcomed at Pride Hub Mixer
The Pride Hub hosted its Welcome Week Mixer August 30. The LGBTQ+ center saw its space fill up with students who visited with their classes that day.
“I was floored with how many people showed up,” said Lucy Plasencia, director of Pride Hub and event organizer.
Other mixers held during the week included the Asian American, Pacific Islander Student Welcome, and the EOPS, CARE, and NextUp programs Meet and Greet.
Sanchez said the college’s overall efforts in coordinating Welcome Week help foster identity development and student empowerment.
“We want to make sure that students feel proud of who they are, of the communities they’re part of … (that they) see the strengths within those identities and the roles they have,” he said.
