The 16th Annual Black History Month Scholarship Brunch

Community News, News — By Buddy Sampson on February 25, 2018 at 12:49 am

 

By Buddy Sampson

The Price Center Ballroom at the University of California San Diego was the location of the 16^th Annual Black History Month Scholarship Brunch, in which three students of color were awarded the Ujima Network Black History Month Scholarship.

Although UCSD is less than 3 percent African-American, the event was multi-cultural, with students, alumni and school representatives that represented UCSD’s diversity. “The broader intention is to celebrate Black excellence,” said Dr. Becky Petitt, Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversion and Inclusion. “And to celebrate the contributions that Black and African-American individuals have made to the country that we are privileged to live in today, and so often, many individuals don’t know about the historical contributions and they make some assumptions about who is responsible for some of the scientific innovations and where we are today.”

UCSD Chancellor Pradeep Khosla addressed the audience and discussed the burgeoning role of African American students and the cultivation of an environment of inclusion. “My commitment to our faculty and to our students is to build an environment that is intellectually inclusive, in the sciences, arts and humanities across the board,” said Khosla. “We want to be sure to include as many people as we can.”

The event featured a silent auction, a musical performance by Grammy Award Winning trumpeter Curtis Taylor, a Presentation of Colors by the San Diego Chapter of the Buffalo Soldiers and the announcement of this year’s 2018 Ujima scholarship recipients, in honor of Dr. Joseph Watson and Mary S. Watson-  Cambria Anderson of John Muir College at UCSD, Nikaria Dixon, also of John Muir College and Jzov Stith-Gambles of Thurgood Marshall College.

But the event reached its apex when Keynote Speaker, retired Colonel Gregory Gadson took the stage. Gadson, who lost both his legs and severely injured his right arm during a tour in Iraq due to a roadside bomb in Baghdad, was inspirational, urging the audience to move beyond ethnicity and focus more on achievement. “This is an opportunity to recognize the diversity of our country,” said Colonel Gadson, who told a poignant story of the incident in which he lost his legs. “A young soldier, a private, Eric Brown, 19 years old, a white soldier, put the tourniquets on my legs, a fact that the doctors said that saved my life. It’s important to understand that as soldiers, we don’t see color, we don’t religion, we don’t see gender. We wear that uniform and that’s what unifies us. And we serve each other.”

Among the sponsors of the event were BD, KPBS, US Bank, Viasat and Andy Nhas and The Prospect Fund.

Dr. Petitt stressed the importance of “having a village” for students of color and having a support system in place for Black students to succeed academically. “We want to celebrate our ancestors and to also lift up and celebrate those who are with us now, with an emphasis on our students,” explained Dr. Petitt. “We have a lot of pride and faith in our students and it’s also important that we invest in them, not just investing financially to support their college going aspirations but to invest our time, our mentoring and to have a full understanding of what a village is and what the village looks like.”