On October 30th, the Black Student Union (BSU) held its first movie night. While they had a multitude of different choices, they decided to showcase the movie Candyman.
The event lasted from 6 to 8 PM. Before the movie began, BSU members were stationed outside the Jenkins Auditorium to sell tickets to the attendees. “We also just set up a little snack station for students who wanted to get snacks, and we just had to open up the auditorium and set up the movie,” said Venusia Teklu, president of BSU.
While searching for movies during a meeting, the officers all chose Candyman because Halloween was right around the corner. Although there were a few technical difficulties, the movie started and everyone gathered their snacks and sat back to enjoy the film. During the movie, members of the BSU were intrigued, commenting, and reacting to how the movie was throughout the night.
For the club’s first event, they had their troubles “especially because of how hard it is to host a movie night,” freshman Sofia Rivera claimed. However, “the way they did it was still really well.”
Despite low attendance, all the students had an enjoyable time. “It was really hard to sell tickets, and for the people that showed up that was really great…it was a lot of fun with everyone,” stated freshman Minerva Davenport. Full of suspense and surprises, everyone was on the edge of their seats.
The club hosted the movie night in hopes of being able to form more bonds with the members and the school. They hope to continue holding more movie nights every other month in order to continue building these relationships. Additionally, they are planning to host events outside of movies. They wish to hold enough events to raise money to do something special for their club seniors.
Many students anticipate their next movie night and are excited to attend again. “I really think that they planned this event really well, and I would love to come to the next movie night that they host,” freshman David Ruprecht stated.
The Black Student Union wants to continue speaking up about the Black community and to raise awareness for society. They hope that they can help form connections between Black students. Additionally, they do not just aim to reach Black students, but anybody who is hoping to learn about the community. “We hope to educate others. BSU is not limited to just Black students…We are open for everybody,” concluded Teklu.
