Black Student Success Initiative welcomes community to campus at Super Saturday

student with victor e bulldog

“Black student success is our business,” said Sade Johnson, interim program director of the Black Student Success Initiative, as she welcomed hundreds of students and their families to Fresno State this weekend at Super Saturday: Black College and Career Summit. 

An annual event, Super Saturday is an intentional early outreach effort to connect Black students with the university before their senior year of high school. 

This year’s Super Saturday introduced students to Fresno State’s Black Student Success Initiative—a new, comprehensive university initiative aimed at addressing the needs and concerns of Black students, including retention and graduation rates, equity gaps and implementation of a holistic approach to improving Black student success. 

The Black Student Success Initiative works with departments and organizations across campus to uplift Black students academically, socially, culturally and professionally. 

Sade Johnson

In her role as the initiative’s interim program director, Johnson’s goal is to create an affirming space on campus for Black students and strengthen the connections between campus and the community. She said, “I identify as a first-generation, low-income, system-impacted Black student…I am determined to see more Black students graduate along with their peers and use their top-quality education to transform the world.”

Super Saturday was the first major public event hosted by the Black Student Success Initiative. 

The day-long event hosted a resource fair, highlighting student services and community resources available to K-12 students and their families, and 28 sessions for students and families to participate in, including: financial aid workshops, informational sessions about programs for first-generation and low-income students, alumni and student-athlete panels, art workshops and science demonstrations. 

Event participants also received lunch from local small businesses, tickets to the homecoming football game, and heard a keynote address from Dr. Kent Willis, vice president for student affairs and enrollment management.

Willis as well as other administrators from across campus offered advice and encouragement to the young students. The provost and vice president of academic affairs, Dr. Xuanning Fu, had a speech that many felt especially moved by, as he called back the words of Johnson and said, “Black student success is our business. Black student success is our mission. Black student success is our love.”

Visit https://studentaffairs.fresnostate.edu/bssi/index.html to learn more about the Black Student Success Initiative and campus resources available to Black students.

by MARISA MATA

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