On December 15, 2015, Bellevue College hosted 170 Bellevue School District male students from grades 7-12 for an all-day conference. The event, known as the BOOM Experience, was created with the intention of providing middle and high school boys of color the opportunity to spend a day engaged with male leaders who look like them. Students participated in workshops that dealt with topics ranging from ethnic literature and inclusive leadership to questions of identity.
Krischanna Roberson, the Bellevue School District’s supervisor for Equity and Student Success, explained the importance of this event. “The need to advocate for boys of color has never been greater because they continue to make up our achievement gap,” she said. “Our students do not get the opportunity to engage daily with educators that look like them and this perpetuates their position in the gap. Having the ability to connect, be inspired, be supported, and strengthen our students is important to their development academically, socially, and emotionally. In this context, we are compelled to advance the movement for assuring our students find success in these areas so…we are BREAKING OUT OF the MARGINS!”
The boys were greeted by Bellevue College president David Rule and Bellevue School District superintendent Tim Mills. During the welcome ceremony, the students were taught the BOOM chant, “I am your brother, you’re my brother, together as brothers we cause a BOOM,” and introduced to the 20+ male facilitators of color that they would be working with throughout the day. The keynote address was given by Dr. Michael Benitez, the University of Puget Sound Dean of Diversity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer. He shared with the students his background as an Afro-Puerto Rican growing up in New York City and how and why he ended up going to school in spite of the hardships he lived. Before heading out into the workshops, the students were told that ”someone is always watching” and therefore to “do you, do it well.”
Throughout the day the young men heard messages to help inspire growth because as Dr. Benitez said to them, “intellectualism is a human ‘thing’ not belonging to just one place or race.”
Student reaction was positive. When asked for feedback about the experience, DuJhion Parrish, a senior at Interlake High School, said, “Never felt so proud of being who I am and what heritage and tradition I was raised in. The speakers helped me realize what I was thinking wasn’t wrong and it was the truth.”
The school district’s Department of Equity is in the process of developing additional program components to engage the students throughout the remainder of the academic year as well as planning for next year’s event.
This article was written by Nahyeli Mendivil, communications and operations manager at Eastside Pathways.
Photo credit: Alex Clark