4th Annual Black-2-School Night at Valley

Free shirts given out to attendees

On Thursday, Sept 18, Valley College hosted the fourth annual Black-2-School night to welcome and celebrate SBVC’s black and African American students. This was an event for all students, alumni, staff, and faculty of SBVC regardless of race and ethnicity. From 5 pm to 8 pm, there were games, dancing, and all-around good times.

The host for the night was SBVC’s own Keenan Giles, who helped keep the vibes positive and enjoyable throughout the whole event. Free food was provided to everyone who attended, ranging from thick cuts of meat to veggie burgers. In addition, those who made it early enough were able to score a free T-shirt commemorating the night.

While the night was filled with fun and games, there was also a focus on the serious accomplishments of Valley. One of the current missions for the campus is to secure BSI status, which means to recognize that SBVC is Black Serving Institution. The campus has already secured Hispanic Serving Institution status and now has all the proper requests submitted to gain BSI status as well.

Host Keenan Giles also covered the key aspects of servingness. A term defined as “an institution’s intentional commitment to meeting the specific needs of its students, particularly those from underrepresented groups.” The key aspects are culturally relevant, curriculum and pedagogy; supportive structures and practices; Institutional culture; and focus on student outcomes.

These are all things that SBVC is committed to in order to ensure that our complete student body is getting what they need to succeed in college.