For the past three years, Centenary’s Black Student Union (BSU) has hosted Family Reunion, feeding the Centenary students and the community with great soul food, games, and music. They did the same for their third annual Family Reunion. BSU has done multiple different events this year for students and the community, including the Voter’s Bash in September, busing voters for Election Day in November, the slate of events during Black History Month in February, and the Apollo Fest in March during CABchella, and the crawfish boil, all of them having successful turnouts for the BSU. Apollo Fest was the last—and biggest—event of the year for the organization.

This year, there was also the addition of the 7 on 7 Flag Football Tournament the day before, too, being advertised as Friday Night Football (not affiliated with ESPN, of course). The event was originally set for the slate of events BSU hosted for Black History Month but was moved to the weekend of the Family reunion. The BSU partnered with the football team, even having Coaches Dawson and Wudtee officiate the games.

The next—thankfully not rainy—day on Saturday, students got up for the big event. Students had a variety of food options to choose from. BSU had food catered from Rajun Cajun and Big Nate’s, as well as desserts from Sweet Temptations. While vegan options were offered for students through catering, they also had the option of food catered from the Caf, which came out to help serve food and drinks, too. There were also several activities available for students to do, including table games like cards and dominoes, kickball, football, sand volleyball, and even a water balloon war. Everyone who came was also given free t-shirts for the event, which they could tie-dye at one of the tables. There was a good showing out of students, faculty, and even some families, too.

BSU also looked to bring a sense of community outside of campus by continuing to serve the Shreveport community as they have been doing for the past year. They looked to support local Black-owned businesses, as they catered food specifically from Black-owned restaurants. After the event was over, they went to the local homeless shelters to donate the remaining food. “Supporting the local community has been a major emphasis for us this year,” a member of the BSU Executive Committee stated. “Whether it’s through helping people get out to vote, feeding people, or supporting businesses, we hope to make a positive impact wherever we can in the community.”

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