Spring is the season of galas, and the Black/African American Cultural Center knows this well. On Mar. 1, wrapping-up Black History Month, the BAACC hosted the second annual Black Excellence Gala at the 1912 Center.
“We live in a very stressful world, a stressful time, and we don’t come together to party together, and that’s important to cultures,” Mario Pile, Director of the Black Student Center, said. “So this is an event to kind of dress up and look nice, but also have some fun and enjoy ourselves, and not worry about what our skin color is or what our gender is.”
Pile and Bex Riehm, Administrative Assistant for the Black Student Center and the one who planned most of the event, were ecstatic over the turnout for this year’s event. “I didn’t expect this many people to show up,” Pile said. “This is almost triple what we had last year.”
The gala is the BAACC’s only fundraiser. The event included a raffle, soul food, dancing and student awards.
Autumn Austin is the president of this year’s incoming student cohort. “It’s a pretty good way for us to connect with each other and really make sure that we’re building that community,” Austin said about the group. “It’s hard when you’re on campus to reach out to other Black people, especially when it’s not in an organized way, so having the BAACC is a good way to bring everybody together.”
Prince Ngaboyimanzi, a member of the BAACC cohort, said, “BAACC has been a place where I can be myself and feel included. When I’m out and about, it’s like, I’m on my own, and I still feel safe, but when I’m in the BAACC I feel like I’m home.”
“I hang out there every day, and the BAACC community is there,” Peter Clavery, an Exercise Sciences student and another student in the organization, said. He also expressed gratitude for Pile’s leadership. “Mario is a great leader, a great mentor. I love him. Need anything from him, he has so many connections, kinda just knows everybody and if you ever have an issue, you guys can tackle that together.”
With the current prevalence of bills that aim to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and affirmative action in higher education, fostering a sense of community is as vital as ever.
“This is a time where it may (feel) that Black doesn’t seem very beautiful. Well, I’m here to tell you, in spite of that, Black is beautiful, and I say that proudly,” Pile said in his introductory speech. “The title of our gala is Black Excellence. Many will have you thinking that Black excellence is perfection… and that’s a lie. Black excellence is equally getting an A as it is getting a C, and if you gave your all with that C, that is Black excellence.”
“Tonight, we are here to honor our ancestors and to those who are coming after us,” Pile said. “I have some amazing students. This is about students, and it’s great to celebrate with them.” Students and members of the public alike can look forward to next year’s event.
Dakota Steffen can be reached at [email protected].