Back to School Jam! We did just that. Each year, the Back To School Jam provides a chance for students to meet new people and become reacquainted with old friends after a long summer. Many students mainly from the campus African American community and other groups as well gathered on Thursday, August 18, 2011 on Harris Field for this year’s Back To School Jam to enjoy music, socialize, eat, and introduce themselves to different clubs and organizations around campus.
Traditionally, the event is led by the Union Activities Board Black Students Board. This year it was hosted Kornelius Bascombe, a senior in Sociology and former BSB chair, and music was provided by DJ Koldstone. This event served as an opportunity for students, especially freshman and transfer students new to the university, to obtain information, knowledge, and insight from a variety of organizations who set up booths and tables displaying information. These organizations included CHASS-MAS, Caribbean Student Association, Dance Visions, W.E.S.T, and Black Finesse Modeling Troupe and many more.
Along with the opportunity to mingle, eat and learn about ways to get involved, the Back To School Jam provided much entertainment, including very energetic performances by NPHC sororities and fraternities. There were hype and well-choreographed dance selections by Dance Visions and Fusion, as well as a very fashionable modeling performance by Black Finesse Modeling Troupe. However, the fun did not stop there! There was a dance off where a few students went up on stage and did a couple of the latest dance crave called “Cooking” and “The Dougie.” All of the performances were very entertaining and a few even gave the crowd a good laugh.
“The 2011 Back to School Jam was so organized and was packed with performances and information about several of the multicultural campus organizations” quoted to Shuffarel Bonaparte, a sophomore majoring in Electrical Engineering.
“I really enjoyed how Kornelius got the crowd involved he was a great host, and I really enjoyed being around people that I can relate to,” quoted an anonymous freshmen majoring in Communications.
The 2011 Back To School Jam turned out to be a big success and it seems as if it gets better as the years go on. Now that all this excitement is over, it is expected that events like this have prepared the student body to return to a new year of hard work, to continue to grow and network with the new friendships and relationships they have made, and to become active in the organizations and opportunities that they have learned about.
