Matt Davy

   In the year 2022, an advisor and a group of students of color thought it would be beneficial to start a Black Student Union in Naugatuck High School due to all the disrespect and micro-aggression towards people of color that began to build throughout the school.

“I got into BSU in between September through October in my Junior year in high school,” Former member Kelyse Hall told The Greyhound in an interview. 

According to Hall, the  BSU in her Junior year wasn’t being taken seriously because many people thought it was just an afterschool program, the union wasn’t executing the goals and objectives they were supposed to. Hall stated “In the year of 2023 Black Student Union did a lot more than the year prior”, A few members of the BSU Kelyse Hall and Jayda Brown started a step team to bring more black culture awareness to the school, The steep team was originally supposed to be a BSU step team but they started using it as a way to cheer on and bring relevance to basketball games, and Pep-Rally. 

The advisor Mr. Evan Acevedo thought about collaborating with other BSU communities to see how they ran theirs at their high school or university. Acevedo also spoke to one of his older advisors he had when he was a part of his BSU group in high school. 

The group including the advisor thought the BSU was a good way to bring awareness to black culture and issues affecting the Black students at the high school. During an interview with The Greyhound former BSU member and president, Matt Davy said “Black culture is usually stereotyped and judged. Having the BSU community where kids of color can rely and have that safe environment where they can be themselves with people who are the same as them and feel comfortable in their skin”. 

From looking at the stats and information BSU provided they had many fundraisers, and went to many different places like restaurant fronts to pass out flyers to raise money and they ended up being able to raise a significant amount of money to be able to go on a trip out of state to see all the different Black culture monuments and HBCUs.  They were able to see different perspectives on how the Black student union can be run. They became successful when they realized how much of an increase in awareness they had seen in the school.  “Black voices were hardly heard and never uplifted so with this community it brings awareness and acceptance to people of color” Hall stated.

The BSU slowly learned different things about black popularity, culture, and the history behind it. “Going on the trip to Alabama and Georgia to visit different historically black colleges and universities (HBCU)  and historical black monuments, made them wanna proceed and show Naugatuck High School what it can be if everyone came together as a union,” said Hall. She also mentioned that not everything in history can be accurately represented by textbooks. 

The group is working hard to make the school culturally diverse and equal. They wanted to reestablish black equality by making the BSU a community for all students. Their goal was to create a larger community to debunk stereotypes and educate others on Black culture. 

Hall also stated, “The BSU members are very passionate about it which created a sense of community.” Hall and another member, Jada Brown,  wanted to bring awareness to the black culture so they started a BSU step-team. They hoped that it would introduce another part of black culture to NHS. 

According to stats from last year’s BSU, I noticed a big change within the community. They were very involved compared to previous years. The community passed around flyers and they hosted events in front of restaurants making them able to raise over $40,000 for a trip to Alabama and Georgia to explore and see different black cultures and see how other BSU were run. 

The BSU had many events at Naugatuck High School including basketball tournaments, step dances, and group discussions that encouraged people of color to feel confident in their skin, they let people have a voice uplifted everyone, and tried to make the school a better community as a whole.

The BSU has made Naugatuck High School a more welcoming place for all students. Hopefully, they will continue to be beneficial to our community here at NHS. Davy said “I hope the upcoming school year BSU members are never afraid to ask for things or ask for help. I want everyone to have enough confidence to speak up and have a voice, and they feel comfortable when speaking up.” Their previous Advisor Mr. Acevedo, took a big part in the Black student union he was very involved and tried to do the utmost for the union he had a lot of pride and reasoning as to why he did what he did for the culture. He has a lot 

“I believe in the concept of ‘youth led and adult-guided’ so I truly want to hear from all BSU members on this year’s goals and aspirations while also collaborating all together to reach those goals we all have as a whole prior sharing information,” said the new advisor Mr. Tavares.