Chabot Gladiators celebrated “The Black to School Cookout Event” on Wednesday, Sep. 4, 2024, from 12 – 2 p.m. near the football field in the grass area. The event was hosted by the BEA and Umoja.

The event hosted by The Black Education Association and Umoja. Lakeisha Stewart the coordinator of the event said,” I wanted to just have an event for our students to just dig into the idea of family. So I was like, you know what, a nice cookout at the grass, a nice family picnic was my reason behind having this event.

The celebration began with people signing up for a meal ticket and raffle ticket to win a prize at the end of the event. The food line was wrapped around the field fo the macaroni, links, burgers, watermelon, and salads.

DJ Kai played music from the 90s up to popular current songs. He even hosted a dance battle for those in attendance. DJ Kai said, “Well, it is an event for all the black students. Being African American myself, I feel like that was the perfect opportunity for me and I’m a DJ. So to be able to contribute in any way, I was already looking for that. Before the school year even started, this had been in the works for a while.”

Two of the dance battle contestants Gio and Quincy hilariously battled it out and ultimately the winner was Gio. Gio said, “I feel like I could have did better in the dance battle but it was good. It was fun.” Quincy added , “It was amazing, but you know, if I did take some dance classes, I’m pretty sure I would have won . But, I give it to the other two because they were meant to dance, you know.”

Towards the end of the event, there was a trivia competition called “Black card Revoked” where contestants would answer black trivia questions to win a Target gift card. Contestant Jasmine said, “I was really nervous about getting my black card revoked I got my black part revoked for one of the questions and I redeemed myself at the end so I was just happy about that part, but I was happy that I participated Being someone who is an introvert. I’m happy that I’m putting myself out there more and just to participate and to be involved in more activities on campus.”

The event was a huge success the students had a lot of fun. It brought people together and created an enjoyable experience for all.