Kaelah Daniel, as the president of the Black Student Union, has a plan she would like to act out for this year’s Black History Month. 

“The older I got, the more racism I experienced; and, I felt like it wasn’t being taken care of,” Kaelah said. “I just want people to feel comfortable going to this school in their own skin.” 

Wanting to help solve the problem, she created a safe space for people to be able to feel comfortable: The Black Student Union. But the organization will be even more than that- it will also be philanthropic and offer leadership opportunities.

“I want to get some fundraisers going like with the Salvation Army, clothing drives, maybe collect some hygiene products,” Kaelah said. “I would also like to have some fun time outside of school like a disco skate night or Karaoke. Maybe a parent dinner also.”

In honor of Black History Month, Kaelah has organized several community-involvement projects and events to take place on campus throughout February.

“Thursdays and Fridays this month, we will be playing music from past influential black music creators on the announcements and in the cafeteria before school,”said Kaelah. 

She feels that black musicians laid out the foundations for a lot of different music styles. The recent Grammys were evidence of their influence, as many performers claimed to have been inspired by older black artists.

“We’re also going to make a ‘wall of inventors’ because a lot of people don’t know where or who the actual inventor of a product was. A lot of the time, another person would take credit for it due to the fact that they didn’t want to give rights to a person of color,” Kaelah said. 

There will also be icons that most people already know like Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, etc. The announcements will also have more information about different dates to recognize during Black History Month. 

“I made a post on Rosa Parks’ birthday that had more information about black women before her who sat on the ‘wrong’ side of the bus. It showed that Rosa got more recognition because of how dramatically it changed society,” Kaelah said.