The ninth annual Black Student Leaders Leadership conference was hosted at Butler University on February 6. Black Student Unions from over 15 Indiana schools, including Mt. Vernon, were in attendance. This is the second year that Mt. Vernon students have attended the conference.
The day started off at 10:30 a.m with a “roll call” in the Shelton Auditorium. Each school in attendance was called on one at a time and were instructed to do their BSU chant for the whole auditorium. After the roll call, students were split into groups based on the number on the lanyards provided for them.
There were three stations which included lunch and two 45 minute sessions with a speaker. There were a variety of sessions that students attended. All of the sessions embraced the seminar’s theme of “Empowerment.” The sessions were hosted by a variety of African American teachers and adults who talked about empowerment in the past, present, and future. These advisors drilled in the message that the empowerment of Black students and teens is important because it can give them the confidence they need to be successful in a world that is against them.
Lunch was served in an atrium near the Shelton Auditorium. Kids were given a slice of Hotbox pizza and two breadsticks, with two tootsie rolls in the box as well. Students were allowed to sit with whomever they wanted, and many mingled with students from schools other than their own.
After the sessions and lunch were done, groups were ushered back into the Shelton Auditorium for the concluding festivities. After a word to the groups, the directors started a dance battle. The dance battle featured four schools competing against each other. Mt. Vernon was matched up with Lawrence Central High School, and according to the claps at the end, MVHS and LCHS won the battle.
The day ended at 2:00 p.m when all the schools filed out of the auditorium and headed back to their buses. Seminars like this are important for Black students across the country. It gives them a sense of community and empowerment in spaces where the majority of the population is white
