On Aug. 25, Mt. San Antonio College welcomed students back for the fall semester, and the Center for Black Culture & Student Success (CBCSS) hosted their “Welcome Black Week” event.

During the four days of celebration the CBCSS showcased a variety of activities such as Mocktail Mondays, Popsicle Pop-Off on Tuesday, Wing Wednesday, and Game Night on Thursday. When I attended Wing Wednesday, I was greeted by a small space that had a very welcoming energy inside of it. Everyone in the student center was socializing and lounging on the sofa in the main area while enjoying the wings.

“We had an event yesterday, which we had gave popsicles to students, Popsicle Pop-Off,”said two year counselor Meklit Molla.” Today, we have Wing Wednesday, a lot more popular, so we had tons of students here.”

With a five wing limit, some fries, veggies and cups of noodles, there were a good amount of students eating, talking and doing work in the space. There were even some students that weren’t black that came through to share the wings and vibes.

“As you know, Black students make up a really small percentage of the campus. We’re about 4%,” said program coordinator of the CBCSS Mercedes Cunningham. “So the whole goal of Welcome Black Week is to help students find community day one.”

And community is something students found as they entered the student center.

“I feel like it’s important that we have a place that we can go,” said first year business administration major Nikki Allen.” I’ve been to other colleges and there’s no community there when it comes to, you know, black people or ethnic people.”

This event really made Welcome Black Week an engaging event for first years to find friends and community, and for returning students to make more relationships with the new students coming in.

“We found that if we promote this even across campus, we email students before they get here, that they know that there’s a community waiting for them with their arms wide open before they even step foot on campus” said Mercedes Cunningham.

“I feel like every time it’s a new person in here, you become friends with them,”said second year kinesiology major Nausea Richardson.”It’s a great opportunity to meet your fellow black people.”

The next day that was planned for the Welcome Black event was game night, another popular night amongst the students in the same fashion as Wing Wednesday.

“It’s really like an opportunity for the students to connect with us on a more casual and chill level,” said Molla.

Welcome Black Week showed that there is a community at Mt. SAC for black students. It communicates that new students have a place to go that welcomes them with open arms, a place students can establish friendships and not be alone.