Student group celebrates women of color

To continue a time-honored tradition in celebration of National Women's History Month, the African Student Association recognized four women of color involved with the university for their achievements outside the classroom.

Wednesday, the association honored minority women, including a student, a faculty member and two others based on community service, in a specialized event attended by about 40 students and faculty members in Stamp Student Union's Atrium. Students said the event provided the recognition of and appreciation for female empowerment that the university often lacks.

"There's the fact that women actually pull their weight more than men. You never really hear too much about women on campus," Anthony Igbene, a junior civil engineering major and longtime ASA member. "Nobody really recognizes them."

When junior art major Kalani Hillman, vice president of the Black Student Union and a member of the Black Alliance Network, received her plaque, she gave the audience words to live by: "If you enjoy what you do, everything is worth it at the end of the day."

The ASA also recognized April Hamilton, an academic adviser at the business school, and Angie Bass, a university employee who locates educational opportunities for non-exempt staff, and Jacquelyne Ngegba, an alumna who ASA President Idris Shinaba said regularly gives student advice.

Because of the month's significance and ASA's historical interest in the recognition of female minorities, the event remains a long-held ASA tradition, dating back at least 10 years, Shinaba said.

"This tribute to women of color is a small dedication to women who are beautiful. I firmly believe that women are all beautiful of every kind," said Monisola Adepetu, a senior psychology major and former Miss ASA. "This event upholds women who are overviewed at times."

"I feel like this is an important event," said sophomore public health major Zulikhat Segunmaru. "There's a lot of successful women on campus, and we don't always show that we care about them and appreciate what they do."

The ASA executive board received about 15 nominations from students and faculty and chose the women who best exemplified selfless involvement for the betterment of others, Shinaba said.

Many audience members knew the nominees and selected honorees personally.

Krystle Norman, vice president of the Black Graduate Student Association, said she encountered Hillman through her leadership role with the Black Alliance Network and attended the event to support the ASA.

"We ultimately want to strengthen relations with undergraduate organizations," said Norman, a public policy graduate student.

This year, the ASA charged $10 per nomination and was eventually able to collect about $150 to supplement its donation to the Haiti Relief Fund.

The ceremony opened with poetic verses from Michael Andrews, the vice president of the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Education, who grew up in a single-parent household with women of Caribbean decent. Sophomore Funsho Adenugba also sang a rendition of the song "This Woman's Work."

Keynote speaker Margaret Dureke, founder of a conference workshop series called Women Empowered to Achieve the Impossible, told the audience to "read outside the textbook" in addition to describing the ideal woman.

"The mark of a successful woman or a colored woman or women of courage is always that distinction," Dureke said. "That, no matter the obstacles, nothing is going to pull them down."

mquijada@umdbk.com