In honor of Black History Month, this week’s article is on the Black Student Union on the Pacheco High Campus.

During this month, they have participated in and done many things to represent and show off their culture around campus.

One big event they have partaken in was marching in the M.L.K Jr march at the beginning of February. Their president Elizabeth Gonzalez also took part by giving a speech, and it was a great one. They also went to the black college expo to give not only their club members but others around campus an oppritunity to experience the expo and view the opportunities that they have.

Another major event that they had started at the beginning of February was a door decorating contest. They gave the opportunity to all teachers around campus to decorate their doors with African American history or something of the African American culture that can be portrayed in a positive way to educate students.

Many teachers took part in decorating their doors with a variety of different historical facts or creative ways to portray African American culture. For example, in the front office, they decorated one of the walls with an African American women’s afro with different African American historical people who made a difference in their community.

Ms. Nelson decorated their door and wall with the different names of people who had passed during the BLM marches with different historical quotes. And with all these doors being decorated they put out a prize for the best one, which was a doughnut party for that class. Nelson won and her door was definitely one of the best ones I had seen throughout the school. She also takes the time to add new artifacts to her area every week.

The BSU also organized a free throw contest during lunch break. Senior Brandon De Reza was their winner. They have more to come for this month and are super excited to see many panthers participated in their activities.

Now going on to our club members and officer’s interviews. One of the first people that I got to interview was BSU vice president Ciara Tribble. She takes lots of pride in Pacheco’s BSU and is ready to portray their culture so much more throughout her years at PHS. To her, BSU is the club where people can be themselves and where they are free to be who they are. She says that “it is a great place to learn more about African American culture and how they made their mark on the world.” Ciara also says that during this time is when she feels they are most heard and they get to show off their cultural diversity.

Another member I got to interview was Sharyah Nance. She feels that BSU has impacted PHS by getting to collaborate with other cultures and coming together to work hard to make their different events happen. All in all, both of these BSU members say that BSU is a very welcoming club and the atmosphere is super positive. BSU is definitely a club to check out not only for the great atmosphere but for the cultural aspects as well.

Kamiliannah Eseroma