Black Student Union Royal Court discuss goals for the future

The Black Student Union Homecoming court talked about their goals to make positive changes in the Black community and the talents they performed for the talent show at the Black Gatsby Pageant on Oct. 15 during Homecoming week.

Devonte Boswell, a senior kinesiology major with a sociology minor, and Emmanuella Ogwo, a junior computer science major, performed dance routines that won them Mr. and Ms. BSU.

Boswell danced with Riddim Ryderz, a University of Maryland group for which he is vice president.

“It was very fun because I was, like, solely in charge of everything from the dancing to the costumes to the concept to the songs that we picked,” he said.

Ogwo has always been a dancer. Her goal for BSU is to allow members to have a creative, expressive outlet, like how she has with dance.

“I dance a lot, so I just love the way that expressions can look in so many different forms. So I just wanted to spread awareness that there are so many different art forms to tell your story,” she said.

In the talent show, Ogwo danced with UMD groups the Star Strutters, Afrochique and Diazporić to represent Nigerian culture. The dance featured Afrobeats, a musical genre the dancer calls her “forever home.”

“I had so much fun working with the creative directors of Afrochique and Diazporić, which are two other beautiful orgs on campus that mainly participate in Afrobeats type of style,” she said.

Ogwo wants to implement different art workshops and mentorship programs as Ms. BSU.

Boswell ran for Mr. BSU to bring together and uplift BSU. He plans on implementing change through community outreach, looking at what community members want for BSU.

“We should give people what they want overall, just making sure that they feel like that they’re heard and that they’re seen and that they’re being given the suggestions they actually ask for,” he said.

Although the Mr. and Ms. BSU candidates were able to perform their talents, Mr. and Ms. freshman and sophomore did not perform. The idea was discussed and tossed out, according to Mr. Freshman winner, Christian Jackson.

“I feel it would have been good to showcase, you know, like different stuff,” Jackson said. “ I feel like maybe they could add that for next year with the sophomore and freshman.”

Jackson, a journalism major and a reporter for The Black Explosion, wants to work on making BSU members better people. He wants to build trust, community and self-improvement within the organization. Jackson said he would’ve played saxophone or recited a poem at the talent show.

“I really just hope by being a voice, being a pillar, someone that people can look up to, you know, stepping up when other people don’t want to step up.” Jackson said on being an example for others.

Ms. Freshman winner Ciara Williams, a kinesiology major, wants to increase the Black presence at meetings. If she performed in the talent show, she would’ve played a Stevie Wonder song on piano.

Jabari Crenshaw, a communications and theater double major, won Mr. Sophomore. He plans to implement creative workshops into BSU meetings. One idea he mentioned is a workshop where BSU executive board members stand still as community members paint on them.

Crenshaw’s campaign called “Black men need love too” focused on how toxic masculinity in Black men impacts everyone in the Black community negatively.

“Black men need love too is to help demolish those insecure, toxic traits of Black men through the arts,” he said.

Crenshaw would’ve performed a monologue in the talent show to showcase his theater skills.

Benjamin-Nicolas Enwesi, a senior computer science major, attended the ball and thought the idea of a talent show was good and that it was well executed.

“I think it was really interesting. It reminds me of something like Fall Ball,” he said. He described the Fall Ball as the African Student Association version of the Black Gatsby.

Wade Dennis, a sophomore business major, thought the talent show was fun to watch. He enjoyed Ogwo’s performance, describing it as a dance battle.

“I thought it was really interesting to see the different skills that I didn’t know people had,” he said.