BSU member Eric Richardson received the ASLCC 2012 Martin Luther King Jr. award. (Photo by Turner Maxwell)
The Black Student Union honored two LCC students and community members at their annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration dinner last week.
Erika Bullock, a student and member of BSU, received a $500 scholarship during the Honoring Our New Ethnic Youth dinner.
This is the first time the scholarship has been awarded, but BSU Internal Vice President Blair Adams said it would not be the last.
“We definitely want to make it an annual thing, and we do think it was successful because one of our members has a little less to worry about,” Adams said. Bullock “tries to make every meeting she can and when we do events she tries to come and support us.”
To qualify for the scholarship, the applicant must be a student and BSU member.
“The idea of it is to motivate students to participate in BSU and to help them financially,” Internal Vice President Tajo Ouermi said. He added that the money for the scholarship came from BSU’s fundraising activities.
Community member Cree Gordon received the Mattie Reynolds Award.
Ouermi explained that the award goes to “someone who’s been working on social justice in the community.”
Blair said nominations for the award come from community members and students.
Greg Evans, the faculty advisor for BSU, said Mattie Reynolds was a leader in her church community and was known as “Mother Reynolds.”
“She was not just a mother to all of her kids, but she was a mother to freedom rights for black kids. So therefore they decided to honor her by naming the award after her,” Evans said.
ASLCC presented Eric Richardson, another community member, received the Associated Students of Lane Community College 2012 Martin Luther King Jr. Award at the ceremony. Richardson is the secretary for BSU and was the ASLCC Cultural Events Director.
Various organizations in Eugene also gave awards.
The City of Eugene Human Rights Community Award went to Patricia Cortez, Tibor Bessko was given the Eugene School District Equity Award and Kevin Summerfield received the Churchill High School Award.
Members of the BSU also participated in three Martin Luther King Jr. events on Jan. 16. They joined the NAACP’s march from the Science Factory to Autzen Stadium. They supported H.O.N.E.Y.’s event with a $1,000 donation. They also printed posters and flyers for Lane County’s celebration.
