In honor of Black History Month, an academic excellence honors night event was held in the Recital Hall on Feb. 23 to recognize self-identified Black students.
The event was for students who achieved a 3.0 GPA or higher for the fall 2022 semester. It consisted of congratulatory remarks of the students, a performance from Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity from the University of California, Davis, a keynote speech and Cosumnes River College alumna speaker presentations, a poem reading and the acknowledgment of the student honorees.
“You wanting to be a teacher is possible, you wanting to be an entrepreneur is possible, you wanting to be a scientist, a business owner is possible because you have proven to yourself as a result of doing something really hard and still getting a 3.0 or more GPA,” said CRC President Edward Bush. “Now you’re in position to dream bigger than you have ever dreamt before.”
Keynote speaker and former Feather River College student Jesse Williams spoke about their life story and how their high school guidance counselor told them that they would not be able to get into a school. Williams later got into and attended The University of California, Davis.
“Admittedly, they were right because I never went to class, I never did homework, I was always submitting items last minute,” Williams said. “I ended up going to community college and I wasn’t fully invested, I didn’t believe in myself.”
Williams said they stayed with some family in Hawaii and got a call from their mom, who was sick and told them to either go to school, get a degree and get a good job or join the army.
“I got on Twitter and the first thing I saw was community college that was accepting enrollment,” Williams said. “Second thing is I turn on the T.V. and I see Feather River College on PBS.”
Williams said they went to Feather River College and studied English.
“I didn’t know how I was going to make friends, I didn’t know my way around campus, but I knew I was going to get an education,” Williams said. “I picked myself up and I started applauding myself just for waking up, just for getting the work done. I went from having a .9 GPA in high school to having a 3.5.”
Williams encouraged the audience to self-reflect and recognized that it can be hard to do.
“Reflect on all the good that you’ve done. Don’t be critical, don’t be judgemental of yourself,” Williams said. “Just reflect and think ‘what could I have done better, what worked for me and how do I move forward.’”
After Williams’s speech, Outreach Specialist Traci Scott shared a poem called “Black and Brown Bodies,” which was about every person of color murdered by White supremacy.
CRC Alumna Anastacia Dobson-Bell spoke about her life story and Black resistance. Dobson-Bell graduated from CRC in 2019 with her Associate of Arts degree in Liberal Arts. She was also the student speaker for the 2019 commencement ceremony.
“In January 2017, I decided to come back to school. I had been yo-yoing back and forth all through my twenties,” Dobson-Bell said. “If I am not gonna do anything else, I’m gonna go back to school and I’m going to finish and commit to it.”
Dobson-Bell said that for her, Black resistance is joy, laughter, anger, pride, justice and love.
“Black resistance is Black existence,” Dobson-Bell said. “Every breath you take is an act of resistance. That is why we continue to see the slaves of Black men, women and children by law enforcement and or those who falsely believe they have the right to decide who lives and who dies.”
The event was concluded by acknowledging the honorees.
Kidest Zekarias, a 20-year-old international relations major, said both speeches from the speakers were wonderful.
“That kind of went with the whole theme of today, which was Black resistance, so part of that is resilience too,” Zekarias said. “To be able to you know live through circumstances and get through your classes and stay consistent and do what you need to do to achieve.”