- My name is Angel Culmer.
I'm in my fourth year of Biomedical Science.
And I'm the current president
of the Guelph Black Students Association or GBSA.
So the Guelph Black Students Association or GBSA,
it was initially called the Mumford Centre,
named after a professor at the University of Guelph,
but it's a safe space for students, black students,
and BIPOC students on campus and safe space incorporates
a lot of things that we do.
So we host events.
We host discussions.
We create opportunities or distribute opportunities.
These include work, internships and study opportunities.
Our greatest impact is probably on our discussions,
and they're weekly.
We host them every Wednesday at 5:30,
and they kind of discuss the black experience.
So, topics include homosexuality in the black community,
mental health and wellbeing in the black community.
Just a lot of things that have to do
with the black experience,
things that we relate to or sometimes we don't relate to,
and where we can kind of like,
spread information and education.
We hosted so many events,
a lot of discussions with some amazing topics and themes
that were very well attended, I must say.
I think the COVID limit was about 20,
and we've never had like under 18 for discussions.
So it was really, I think we did really well this past year.
Black History Month is so important,
because like, it just celebrates the culture
of people in the African diaspora.
There's so many aspects of it.
Like it's just kind of a time to come together,
and celebrate how diverse we are,
how special we are, how strong we are.
And also just like how far we've come from our past.
So that's why it's important.
The theme 'cultivating black joy' was chosen
because I personally felt the need to make fun spaces
for black students on campus.
I feel like usually we're so focused on kind of fighting
for our spaces and just trying to educate people.
And we really don't take the time to kind of relax
and enjoy ourselves and enjoy the spaces
that we fought so hard for
and people before us have fought so hard for.
So I really want this year to be focused
on making safe spaces, making them fun,
and just incorporating joy
and just evoking joy in black students.
(chill music)