Drew’s Student Engagement Diversity Department and Drew NightLife hosted a Black History Month-themed bingo event on Feb. 7.
When entering Crawford Hall at the Ehinger Center for this event, participants were given a bingo board as well as a punch card.
The punch card is for individuals to bring to every Black History Month event they attend. For every event, they are given a sticker to add to the card. By Feb. 28 at the “A Touch of Soul” event, whoever has the most stickers and therefore whoever has attended the most events for Black History Month by then will get a prize – so make sure to keep up with all the Black History Month events happening in the future!
The event was opened by recently graduated Muthoni Githinji (C’24). Being very engaged in various clubs before graduating, she talked about passing the baton of student and club engagement to others like the students hosting the event, Fundi Ngcongwane (‘27) and Grailin Simmons (‘27). Ngcongwane and Simmons are helping coordinate and plan all of the Black History Month events.
The event kicked off with participants having to achieve bingo in various unique shapes. For example, in one of the games, one had to have a heart on their bingo board to call bingo. When one achieved the winning shape, they would be able to win prizes. Some prizes like cards, hair products, a sweater and more were offered. The most coveted prize of the evening was a new record player.
There were several instances of multiple participants calling bingo at the same time. In these cases, Drew’s classic bingo settler was always brought out: rock, paper, scissors, shoot. Everything from the event, prizes and bingo settlers all made the event something everyone in the community could enjoy.
When playing a game as heart-wrenching as bingo, it has the power to bring communities together. Overall, it was a very successful and energetic event.
There will be many more events to come: Black In Politics in Crawford Hall on Feb. 17, Movie Night in Crawford Hall on Feb. 18, Roots In Rhythm: Afro Diasporic Dance Workshop in Crawford Hall on Feb. 20 and many more. Other such events are listed on the Black History Month Calendar on the @drewstuact Instagram page.
Kayla Kiernan is a First Year student who is exploring academically.
