As a part of recent cultural summits to promote unity throughout District 219, the Black Student Union (BSU) hosted a Black Student Summit at Niles North on Thursday, Feb. 6.

The summit included 13 different sessions to help students explore their identities and learn how to express themselves. English teacher and BSU sponsor Dillin Randolph hosted a jeopardy session based on Black culture and achievements. Every session included fun and engaging ways to involve culture and history.

“There was one about Black alumni from Niles North and West coming back to just talk about how they navigated the school, and being Black, and how that impacted them…just a lot of different things to connect in a way they don’t get to in a normal school day,” Randolph said.

The summit’s purpose was to bring Black students together and provide them with a safe place where they can express themselves. Sophomore Aliyat Olushesi attended the summit and felt this goal was achieved.

“It felt like a space where you couldn’t be judged, no matter where you were. It’s really rare to experience something like that and I’m really fortunate I got the opportunity to go,” Olushesi said.

Olushesi also shared her personal favorite session being one about makeup geared to match her skin tone.

“We just learned so much, and so many new tricks that we don’t typically see produced out there in the media…it was just so much knowledge [about makeup] that I never really knew,” Olushesi said.

There was a lot of preparation that went into the summit to ensure that it went smoothly and was enjoyable for students. President of BSU and junior Lydie Boussoukou played a big role in ensuring the summit was successful.

“Niles West BSU [wrote] out what we wanted to see in the summit, organizing what should be included in some of the breakout sessions, and promoting the summit…but it truly was a success,” Boussoukou said.

With all things, successful or not, Boussoukou believes that changes need to be made for possible future summits.

“I’d say if we were aware that we were going to be able to bring the summit back, we’d definitely have more downtime in between the planning and the actual event,” Boussoukou said.

Though there is no confirmation of another summit occurring next year, Randolph has great hopes of the summit reoccurring.

“We will do our best to make sure [another summit] happens because we know how important it was for our students,” Randolph said.