Even With Low Membership the Black Student Association is Still Active

Arts, English, and Humanities Division Assistant Rochelle Mosby has been wanting more people to join the Black Student Association.

The BSA is an association that is attempting to build a sense of community at OCCC and with the local community. The issue of low membership started when the pandemic hit and most communication was done over the internet. Currently its membership is low and not too many people seem to be aware of it.

The main goal of creating a sense of community is something that Mrs. Rosby, and the few remaining members, would like to do. One event they have had is an open-mic night that is being co-sponsored by the BSA and The Absolute.

The Absolute (Absolute Literary Journal – Oklahoma City Community College (occc.edu) is an artistic and literary journal at OCCC. There have been students who have written both songs and poems. BSA has also done volunteer work for local elementary schools. They have helped out with the end of the year field days that Elementary’s have.

There have also been members who would go to read to the kids there. There have also been students who would take on mentor role at a local elementary. They would do things like tutor math or English. There is also a Soul Food Dinner that has been put on hold but they are hoping to bring back. They have also worked with HOPE to build floats at Capitol Hill. Their club according to their webpage (https://occc.presence.io/organization/hope-hispanic-organization-promoting-education) says that they are a non-profit for people interested in hispanic/latino culture.

Demarco Coleman is a nursing student here at OCCC.

Coleman said he had not heard of the Black Student Association but would be willing to join the organization.

He noted he has a bit of an interest in the open-mic nights that the BSA takes part in. With the group working towards becoming more active maybe more people will join. There is some interest, just more people need to be made aware of it.

The issue of Covid is something we are all too familiar with. But now that things are returning to normal more groups are wondering how they can become more active.

One of those groups is the Black Student Association. It is a group that strives to create a sense of community at OCCC and the local community. But due to the pandemic membership as dropped drastically. The move to online meetings made a lot of students leave the club.

“Most of our members are on campus. When we moved to online meetings, I lost quite a few students,” Mosby said.

There were also some students who went to other schools as well.

There is also another aspect of the Black Student Association that shouldn’t be missed. It takes a black student to understand what another black student is thinking. A Black Student Association gives black students the chance to communicate with someone who understands what they are going through as a black individual.

“It helps when somebody knows where you are in your life,” Mosby said.