As one of the inaugural events of the semester, the Center for Multicultural Initiatives (CMI) and the Association of Black Students (ABS) embellished Elliott Tower with the now traditional, CMI Welcome Back BBQ.
During the first day of the fall semester, Sept. 4, burgers, music and dance welcomed new and returning students to Oakland University.
“The CMI puts this on every year to bring out the community and help everyone meet each other and mingle a little bit,” Kayla Anderson, ABS vice president, said. “It’s something to let people know that there’s a community for anyone.”
With over 600 attendees, musical transitions between party classics and new summer hits made the food line — which almost went around the Oakland Center — enjoyable and entertaining.
“It’s a form of reunion, like a family reunion,” Omar Brown-El, CMI senior director, said. “Over the summer, many of our students haven’t seen each other and so they come back and this is the first ‘welcome back’ event to the university.”
In between bites or after dancing, some students shared their opinions on the event.
“It was fun, the food was good, the vibes was there,” Layal Roberts, a social work major, said.
“It’s a really good event, the food was nice and the weather was enjoyable,” Antonio Beltran, a computer science student, said. “The event being at Elliott Tower was a good idea because it is at the heart of Oakland.”
Brown-El explained that many attendees are incoming freshmen who are part of the Oakland University Trustee Academic Success (OUTAS) and the Collectively Oakland Retains Everyone (CORE) programs. These are retention and leadership programs aimed at supporting students by pairing them with resources, advising, mentoring, workshops and counseling.
“When we say ‘come as a student, leave as family’ this is what we envision,” Brown-El said. “This is the beginning of that family experience, not only with the CMI but with the university at large.”
The event was a coordinated effort between the CMI and ABS, Anderson explained. ABS coordinated with other student organizations like the Intrigue hip-hop dance team to bring performers and DJs while the CMI oversaw catering and location reservations.
After the BBQ concluded at 8 p.m., a mixer was hosted at the Oakland Center’s Gold Rooms to help freshmen students get to know more people and other organizations on campus.
As part of Welcome Week, ABS planned to host various educational and fun events to help students — especially freshmen — acclimate to the new semester.
“We’re looking forward to more ABS events like the ABS Survival Guide,” Anderson said. “Incoming freshmen can come and get some advice from their upperclassmen, school leaders they see on campus. We’ll have a few panelists that will be giving their advice on how to matriculate through college.”
Brown-El offered some last thoughts for the campus community as the fall semester begins.
“Let’s be the best selves that we can be, as students, in our social spaces, let’s find community,” Brown-El said. “Let’s build each other up and be the best Oakland University that we can be.”
For information about upcoming events, visit ABS’s Instagram and the CMI website.
