By Dihandra Williams

High Point University’s Black Student Union did not disappoint when it came time to celebrate Black History Month.

Throughout the entire school year, this club remains active on campus and always does their best to provide a safe space and meaningful events for their members to attend. During Black History Month, they decided to take it up a notch.

Making history

While constantly pushing out entertaining and uplifting events for their club members, BSU’s Executive Council tirelessly worked towards one of the most monumental moments of their club’s history.

Their first ever ‘Black and Bling’ Gala.

In celebration of Black History Month, BSU took it upon themselves to recognize and congratulate Black students, faculty and staff for their many contributions to not only High Point University, but HPU’s black community.

The night consisted of dinner, dancing, an awards ceremony, interactive games and a very special speaker, Mrs. Joan Higginbotham.

Higginbotham is an electrical engineer and former NASA astronaut. In 2006, she became the third African American woman to go into space aboard STS-116 as a mission specialist. She now resides in Charlotte, N.C. and gladly accepted the offer to share herself and her experiences at BSU’s gala.

There’s no doubt that all the hard work and dedication that BSU put into this event paid off, but not many people know how difficult of a task it was to put on an event of this extent.

Time and preparation

BSU’s ‘Black and Bling’ Gala all stemmed from the imagination of the club’s current president, Mikayla Smith.

Smith knew that she wanted to showcase Black Excellence in a way that has never been done on HPU’s campus, but it wasn’t until she began the planning process alongside her EC that she truly understood how difficult of a task this would be.

On December 6, 2021, the Black Student Union proudly announced that they would be hosting a Gala in the upcoming months encouraging students to get their outfits and get excited. Their Instagram post read, “The Black Student Union presents to you our first ever ‘Black & Bling’ Gala! Look forward to enjoying live music performances, keynote speakers, award presentations, fine dining and a whole lot of fun!”

And since that day, the club worked nonstop to ensure that those promises were fulfilled. This was especially noticeable during the final two weeks leading up to the event.

There wasn’t a single day that went by where the club wasn’t doing something related to gala planning or getting their members excited.

Alena Rivers serves at the Black Student Union’s Student Government Association Representative.

“It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it,” said Rivers. “If it wasn’t for Mikayla and Dihandra assigning tasks to each board member and always communicating to us about what was going on, I don’t know how we would’ve got this done in the way that we did.”

A stand-out showcase

BSU designed ticket logos and designated five different dates to hand them out. They even went as far as hand-delivering tickets to students, faculty and staff members who could not make it to the original ticket hand-out times.

They held etiquette lessons, so each student knew exactly what to do and wear during a platted dinner.

They turned their regularly scheduled meetings into opportunities where students could learn more about Black History and why it’s so important to celebrate it.

They taught fun line dances, contacted caterers, different venues and keynote speakers.

They strategically put together the program for the night and held dress rehearsals to ensure everything went smoothly.

They crafted, ordered and put together decorations and centerpieces for over 40 tables.

But most importantly, they put this event and their club before themselves.

Each Executive Council member went above and beyond, dedicating their own personal time in hopes of making history, all while being full-time students.

And whether you were present at this monumental event or not, just know all their hard work most definitely paid off.

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If you are interested in getting involved or learning more about HPU’s Black Student Union, please follow @highpointbsu on Instagram.

Dihandra Williams is a senior at High Point University majoring in Journalism. For contact inquiries, please email dwillia2@highpoint.edu.