In a school that’s not as diverse, minority students can struggle to find places where they belong. However, the newly-created Black Student Union (BSU) provides a space that makes the high school feel like their home. It also helps them celebrate Black culture throughout the school with events like their recent Black History Month festivities, which they hope to develop further with the high school administration’s support.
Social studies teacher and BSU adviser Dianne Day said it’s a club where Black students can come together and discuss ways to succeed as a minority group.
She said she has been teaching at Bexley for three years and remains one of the only Black teachers in the high school.
“I came from the same type of demographic as Bexley of being in a majority white school, and if I would have had a group like Black Student Union, I would have felt better,” Day said.
Junior and BSU member William Murray has been attending meetings all year and has formed a bond with Day and other club members, he explained.
“Even though she teaches many courses, she puts in time for BSU,” Murray said. “We would not be BSU if it was not for Ms. Day.”
BSU was created in March 2023 by graduated Black seniors Lydia Baker, Madison Ingram, Maya Murray and Keira Murray, Day said.
“I would describe Black Student Union as a safe space for Black students to feel advocated for,” she said.
BSU students meet every other Friday during lunch to do everything from playing Uno to planning celebrations for Black History Month, Day explained.
Murray said students enjoy that there are both relaxed and focused sides of meetings.
“My favorite thing to do in BSU is being able to bond and have conversations about what we want to change about the school, and it is a place where everyone’s voice is heard,” Murray said. “It’s nice to see people who look like me and share similar experiences to express my culture in ways it relates to me.”
Day explained BSU had a new task this year: starting in November they began to plan activities to celebrate Black History Month at the high school. Day said they planned a spirit week, in which high school students could participate to show support for Black students.
BSU organized a celebration lunch on Friday, Feb. 9 for the school, Day added. She said this lunch was cooked by the food services staff with the help of BSU students.
“Lunch and the plans for spirit week were successful, but there was not a lot of student participation, even though it was advocated all around the school,” Day explained.
Sophomore and BSU member Amiya Bowles said she helped execute these events by cooking food, decorating the cafeteria and sharing fun facts about famous Black figures on the morning announcements.
Bowles said the spirit week themes were posted throughout the school on the daily announcements and social media platforms, so the lack of student participation was disappointing.
Day also said there was an idea to have a student-led assembly to showcase Black talent and hear Black student voices, but those plans fell through.
Bowles said the assembly was dropped because it was difficult to plan and they receive as much support as they expected.
“The assembly did not succeed because it was unorganized, and students didn’t have a lot of help from administration,” Bowles explained. “I liked that it was student-led because it made us be more responsible, but I also did not like it because it left major holes in plans with barely any staff support.”
Leader of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Stephen Lewis said the assembly was dropped because it wasn’t planned far enough in advance. Students initially wanted speakers to visit the school, but when Lewis reached out to organize those visits, their schedules were already full, he said. When plans shifted to feature student speakers, there wasn’t enough time for students to prepare, he added.
“As far as the assembly, unfortunately we waited too long, or too late, in order to get outside organizations to support us,” Lewis said.
Principal of Secondary Schools Jason Caudill explained the motivation to make Black History Month plans student-led was because students tend to not like what adults plan. He added Lewis and Assistant Principal Willie Cook were advisers for BSU’s Black History Month plans.
Cook said his role was to help students feel more comfortable leading a large-scale Black History Month event. He added BSU has the administration’s full support now and in any future Black History Month plans.
Murray explained Lewis took part in a BSU meeting that occurred after Black History Month to gather feelings and opinions on how the events turned out.
“I liked that he came in, shared his time with us and brought awareness to how we’re feeling, especially because last year we did not have someone to do that,” Murray said.
Lewis said this year was vital for him to see Bexley’s culture. Since it is his first year, he wanted to observe more than take over, he added.
“I did not take ownership of this year,” Lewis said. “It was not for me to take ownership, it was Ms. Day and students of BSU.”
Murray said it was hard to plan because teachers who wanted to help plan Black History Month activities also had other responsibilities. However, they did receive assistance from Day and art teacher Helma Groot, he added.
“Administration did not help with lunch plans, decorating or spirit week, and if we were to have an assembly, Cook told us it would be completely student-led,” Murray explained. “Caudill sent out an email saying they put mentors and advisers to help the students and listed the mentors in the email, but the only people who helped us high school students were Ms. Day and Ms. Groot.”
Groot devoted a lot of time and donated materials to create posters and decorate the cafeteria, he said.
Murray said he would like the high school and district administration to help bring speakers to the high school, plan visits from historically Black college and universities’ fraternities or host a talent show to exhibit Black culture because without the administration’s help, it is harder to organize these events.
Along with future ambitions for Black History Month, Day said she has plans for future meetings.
“Our upcoming meeting will be a celebration for the students who helped, and we will talk about how we can improve next year and start planning,” she said.
