February is most commonly known as the month of love and appreciation. Aside from all the romance February entails, it is the month in which President Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglass were born, hence being known as Black History Month (BHM). This February, Hinsdale South’s Black Student Union (BSU) organized various activities-raffles, trivia games, assemblies, food trucks-to celebrate this special month.

Celebrating BHM at Hinsdale South was very fun, but did it send the message that it intended? The intent of celebrating this month was meant to spread awareness of black history to students as well as get the black student population excited about their culture. This month was meant to create a community between both black students and faculty which “spreads black excellence during this period of celebration and remembrance,” stated senior Jadyn Watson, Hinsdale South’s BSU president.

In order for all of these events to occur, the BSU Cabinet and their sponsors, Mr. Martin and Ms. Holmes, “collectively planned each event and distributed the responsibilities where they saw fit,” Watson said. On top of that, the announcements, daily black history facts, and the BHM Museum were all created by the BSU Cabinet.

Considering that the BSU at HSHS was created only two years ago, the group’s dynamic seems to be very good. Over the past two years, our BSU has gained a lot of support and participants. Watson stated that last year they would only get a “handful of students to our community events,” but now they are expanding and getting “larger numbers of students as the word gets around.”

Shout out to the BSU Cabinet and their sponsors for planning an effective BHM and working hard all year round to create a strong black community here at Hinsdale South!