The motto of NAACP’s youth and college division is “A mission to lead, a commitment to succeed.”
Bradley’s chapter has been working on doing just that.
Bradley’s National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has already completed more than six community service events this academic year, including a movie night, a health fair and voter registration for students.
At the movie night, NAACP showed “Good Hair,” a documentary about hair in African American culture, starring producer and writer Chris Rock.
Afterwards, a discussion was held on cultural issues brought up in the movie.
One of NAACP’s biggest events this academic year was its health fair.
“[The health fair] acts to teach people about their health by bringing many different specialists [and] doctors [in a] variety of fields to explain their profession,” freshman NAACP officer Kenneth Smith said. “There are games and a lot of informative activities.”
In addition to community events, NAACP was the winner of this year’s “I AM Video,” where they reenacted a music video. The grand prize was $500.
NAACP Week was hosted last week, and the club was forced to reschedule several events due to snow days.
As part of NAACP week, the group organized a service event at Loaves and Fish last Saturday.
Freshman Community Service Chairperson Christian Moore, who organized the community service event, said about fifteen people from NAACP participated.
“[The event] went well, I enjoyed it,” she said. “I love community service and it had a good turnout.”
NAACP president senior Kristin Henry said the group will be participating in a collaboration of activities with all multicultural organizations the week of Feb. 21-26.
“All events will be spearheaded by each organization’s president with the core purpose of promoting unity and increasing the use of the Garrett Center,” she said.
Bradley’s NAACP chapter aims to “promote togetherness and community on campus, and to reach out to and help the community,” Moore said.
Moore said she joined NAACP because “it’s a prestigious organization and I like that they do different things around the community and at Bradley.”
Smith joined NAACP for similar reasons.
“I wanted to give back, you know?” Smith said. “It’s just a good way to get active on campus.”
Like Moore, Smith emphasized the community aspect of the club.
“We’re definitely a family; a lot of people who have the same ideas as you and are trying to make things better,” he said. “They are also doing bigger things and are trying to make you a better person.”
The club hosts open-attendance meetings at 9 p.m. every other Wednesday in Olin Hall, room 148.
