CSO Ecourages Students to Rep Their Flags

CSO Ecourages Students to Rep Their Flags

By Elias Taveras

Students were coming in to Classroom building 112, as Briand Taylor, a theatre major and public relations chair of the Caribbean Student Organization from Buffalo, set up the Caribbean music.

Students making the Panamenian flag on a cookie.

"Any suggestion," Taylor said to the students so that they could have picked favorite songs.

The event called ‘Rep Your Flag,’ was hosted today at 6 pm. It encouraged student from Caribbean backgrounds as well as of any other to learn about meanings of Caribbean flags.

Even though, Taylor is not of Caribbean decent being part of CSO and learning about flags got her interested on the cultures.

“The dance team was what made me join CSO,” said Taylor. “I am American, however their cultures and their dance movements are very ethnic and close to my culture.”

The Caribbean Student Organization created an event aimed to raise awareness of the Caribbean cultures and nations through their flags.

Taylor, later said that reping your flag is importance because it shows people that are not of this country that they are not alone. It also helps people who are not Caribbean to become more familiar with that culture.

Student came in to learn about the cultures of the Caribbean. After, a PowerPoint presentation on Caribbean flags and a “Guest What Flag It Is,” contest, student had the opportunity to decorate cookies.

The cookie was decorated with the color of a flag of the student's choice. They use color bather to decorate the cookies. Students were broken into teams. The team with the best cookies received “caribbucks.”

Students taking photographs of their finished creations.

‘Caribucks,’ are fake money created and provided by CSO thought  the semester to students part of the organization. At the end of the semester the student with the most caribucks will get to meet backstage with the artist brought for their upcoming caribash event.

Ashley Louimarre, a junior exceptional education major and treasure of CSO of Haitian heritage from Long Island, said that to her it is important to show her flag and her culture.

“It is very important to keep the Caribbean cultures alive on campus alive,” said Louimarre. “Many of the students of Buffalo State College are of Caribbean decent and some are not aware of it.”

The event was not only aimed to bring awareness of the flags but also to keep all Caribbean culture together.

“It is definitely important to keep the nations together and that is the basic of our week called divided by water united by culture,” said Taylor.

The event was a moderate success judging by the 21 students who attended. Out of the 21 six of them were males. It also provided students with ways that they can help out with social and economic problems on the Caribbean.

Tiffany Chang, an undeclared freshmen of Jamaican and Chinese decent from Brooklyn, said that the programs provided by CSO helped bring all the different Caribbean cultures united on campus.

“To have pride in your flag and where your from and to be happy with where you are from,” said Chang. “I am a proud Jamaican, Jamaica is the best island in the world and I want others to feel the same way I do.”

Operation Christmas Child

By Elias Taveras

With Christmas just around the corner David Nunez, a junior biology major of Buffalo State College from New York, worries about children around the world who were not given the chance to have a decent Christmas. 

 “I am of Bolivian decent and it breaks my heart when I go back to my ancestor’s country to see that the majority of parents do not have enough money to get toys for their kids,”   said Nunez. “It makes me happy that I have the chance in my own school to help out kids around the world.”

Members of the E-board 

Nunez says that he feel happy to be able to give a kid somewhere around the world a similar Christmas than the one he had. Nunez traveled to Target around the school to buy toys for a boy. He brought three toy cars and and an action figure. These were two of his favorite toys growing up.

Nunez said that he feels happy that InterVarsity facilitated him the opportunity to give kids around the world a normal Christmas.

Operation Christmas child is an annual event that gives students the opportunity to help underprivileged kids around the world.

The event is hosted annually by the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. This year it was hosted on Thursday from 6 pm to 8 pm. This organization is founded by the United Student Government.

Every year InterVarsity’s mission is to pack boxes of toys for children across the world who are not receiving anything, said Julie Brown, the president of InterVarsity and a junior sociology major from Long Island.

“We just want to provide students with the chance to help out kids around the world,” said Brown. “The wonderful thing about our program is that we give students the opportunity to help out in our own Buffalo State College community.”

Before the event InterVarsity encouraged students to go to Dollar Tree and buy the toys that were going to be donated. Students were also told to bring seven dollars to cover international shipping fees.  Finally, all students had to do was attend the event that would serve as a box packing ceremony.

Omar Glaze, a junior criminal justice major from Long Island, said that to him every child should have the same opportunities and privileges.

“Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year and I would like for every child around the world to enjoy it just as much as I did,” said Glaze.

Kathelyne Pena, a senior sociology major from the Bronx said that in her box she would not be putting toys for the kids.

“Instead of toys I wanted to give a child around the world the opportunity to learn by putting in the box school supplies,” said Pena. “Toys only put emphasis on materialistic ideals, with school supplies I am given the children a chance to better itself.”

InterVarsity also gave students the opportunity to personalize their boxes that were going to be sent out to a child around the world.

Buffalo State's Apollo Night

Buffalo State's Apollo Night

By. Elias Taveras

 

Students got to pick the winner of the talent show in the African American Student Organization's Apollo Night.

The event was on Saturday from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm inside Rockwell Hall's state of the art performing art center. Students got to go on stage and show their talents.

Instead of a panel of judges the audience got to decide who was the winner. They also had the power to boo any competitor off the stage.

Constance Boakye, a sophomore public communications major and president of AASO from the Bronx, said that the event had a very different feel to it because for once student got to voice their opinion.

“We did not have a huge crowd, however the event was a success because it had a different mood to it,” said Boakye. “It was amazing to see what the crowd really thought about each performance from the minutes they started.”

Boakye then continued to say that even though the crowd got to boo students off the stage they tried to make a respectful event.

Apollo Night was an $8,000 event that was hosted by actress and comedian Cocoa Brown.

Cocoa Brown, has starred in movies like "All Good Things" and been a series regular on television shows like "For Better or Worst" and "Date Devil."

Her sense of humor kept the show going. After every good performance she would say how hot it was. When a competitors got boo off the stage she would make a funny remark about their performance.

"Aw is okey honey boo boo you better luck next time, if there is a next time," said Brown to a contestant as he exited the stage.

Imani Hall, entertainment chair of AASO and sophomore media production major from Brooklyn, said that Coco Brown made the event a special one.

“Coco Brown is a comedian that made the event funny and worth it for all students” said Hall.

There were 15 contestants participating in the show. Each had different talents ranging from poetry to dance. The event was won by Perry Angor who received a Nook as a consolation prize for his break dancing performance. From the bogging of his act he was already a crow favorite.

Kristie Rodriguez, a junior speech pathology student from New York said that the crowd had too much freedom.

“I feel like some of the crowd members should not be allowed to boo people of the stage,” said Rodriguez. “My boyfriend was a competitor and he got booed and disrespected even though his poetry was amazing.”

The event had a fee of seven dollars that made certain student unhappy.

President of AASO Constance Boakye, said that the reason they charged students was because of USG requirements. USG required organizations to raise the money spent back to the funds.