For Jaylyn Harris, Black History Month represents pride, visibility and community.
Harris is a third-year animal science major on the pre-veterinary track and president of Cal Poly’s Black Student Union. She said February creates dedicated time to celebrate Black culture and heritage. Although she values year-round recognition, she believes the month brings broader awareness across campus.
“Black History Month is the 28 days that America gave me to celebrate my culture,” Harris said. “Just because it’s 28 days does not mean that Black History Month is not important to me every other 365 days. But definitely Black History Month is a time for others to have to recognize that we’re here and that we do have history, and we do have heritage rooted into America.”
Finding belonging on campus
During her first year, Harris connected with BSU through the Black Academic Excellence in Building 15. Many meetings still take place there. She later served as treasurer before becoming president. Now, she focuses on mentorship and outreach to first-year students.
One experience stands out for many Black students.
“I feel like one of the most universal experiences that us Black students face is being the only Black student or student of color sometimes in our class,” Harris said. “That’s not easy. It’s definitely something that people overlook when they’re not the ones who feel left out.”
To address that isolation, BSU creates intentional spaces for connection. Meetings and gatherings at the Black Academic Excellence Center allow students to build relationships and find support.
“BSU and the Black Academic Excellence Center being a space where that’s all you see, and we’re there to uplift you, we’re there to mentor, we’re there to talk to you, we’re there to laugh,” Harris said. “That’s one of the biggest challenges that we see a lot of, and then we try our best to make do with what we have.”
Defining Black excellence and joy
Harris describes Black excellence as persistence and presence.
“Black joy and Black excellence is every single Black student that you see,” Harris said. “We all have made it so far. We made it into such a hard university to get into. We are here, and we’re taking up space, and every single day, we are stepping out of our comfort zone, and that right there is Black excellence.”
Joy becomes visible in BSU spaces across campus, she said.
“If you come into any of our spaces, like I mentioned, the Black Academic Excellence Center, come to a BSU meeting, you’ll see all the Black joy that we do have,” Harris said. “We’re small in number, but we’re very much mighty.”
Throughout February, BSU is hosting an open mic night and its annual “Black Love” formal to celebrate creativity and connection.
For more information about upcoming events and initiatives, visit Cal Poly BSU’s Instagram page at @calpolybsu.