The Black Student Union’s (B.S.U.) first Blackout week was an experiment that resulted in success. There was some secrecy behind Blackout when it was initially announced. This was purposely done to build curiosity amongst students and hype up the event itself. When the B.S.U. came up with the idea of a week of activities they also considered ways to get students involved and participating. The best way to do this was to get word out on campus about Blackout without giving away too many details, creating a buzz about the event. “We need to look outside of the box to inspire,” B.S.U. member Kevin Williams said. Once the secret was out, people learned that Blackout was a week long collaboration event from the B.S.U. and the African-American Success Through Excellence and Persistence program, also known as A.S.T.E.P. In fact, the B.S.U. is the student run portion of the A.S.T.E.P. program. Each day of Blackout week consisted of different group activities. “I like the feeling of a sense of community within a small group of people,” says Danzel Cohen. On Mon. May 12 Blackout kicked off with a barbeque. On Tues. they had a bowling event at Albany Bowl. Wed. saw an on campus Madden ’08 tournament. On Thurs. night there was a social gathering in the cafeteria in which everybody got dressed up. There was a Basketball tournament consisting of three person teams in the gym on Friday. Saturday the group headed to University of California, Davis for Black Family Day. They wrapped up the week on Sun with Reverend Timothy Dupree’s worship service at Calvary Hill Community Church of San Francisco. “This was the icing and cherry on top of the dessert,” said Vice President of the B.S.U, Jay August, referring to the group’s final day at church. During the social on Thursday there were various awards given out. Malorie Brewster received the Dr. Paul Anthony Jackson Award, in honor of the former coordinator of the A.S.T.E.P. program. The award was created based on Dr. Jackson leaving the position of coordinator of the A.S.T.E.P. program as a way to honor his legacy. “I wanted to choose someone who was dedicated to the cause,” said new adviser Murrell Green in regard to choosing Brewster as the recipient. Another award that was presented was the Raphael Canenguez Award. Created in the memory of the late Canenguez, a very dedicated member of the A.S.T.E.P. program, the award was presented to Brendon Peoples. Peoples was chosen as the recipient because of his work with the B.S.U. this semester, and because he was also one of Canenguez’s best friends. The final award of the evening was the Life Inspiration Award. This was a surprise award given to Murrell Green by the B.S.U. members for his work as their new adviser. With the success of Blackout the B.S.U. is thinking about future events. “We’re trying to make an impact on the school by having people not only recognize us, but wanting to join us and be a part of something big,” says August. There are definitely plans for future Blackout weeks, and other ideas are being thrown around the board including a historical black college tour. “It would be very informative and the members would be able to grow form the trip alone,” says award winner Malorie Brewster about the potential of a college tour. Another idea they are playing with is mentoring. They are talking about finding mentors for themselves as well as taking time to mentor others, including middle school and high school students. “The B.S.U. mentoring other students could change lives, helping them go in a different direction then where they were headed before,” said Brewster. As their new adviser it is Green’s biggest goal to keep students vested in something at Skyline so they want to come to school and accomplish their goals. “The point of me being the adviser of the Black Student Union is to do two things, to have our students either transfer or get degrees, and everything we do is on route to that,” Green said. “No matter what we do, did last week, and will do in the future, it’s all void if our students don’t transfer or graduate.”

Additional information provided by Jennifer Culhane.