February has seen a wealth of events in recognition of Black History Month from a Hip Hop panel held by leading experts in the industry, to an open mic slam poetry recital, to the ending of the month with Umoja’s Circle of Support and much more.

Umoja is a new program started last year.

It is a program on campus that is geared to build the African American experience within the academics of the classes that the students are taking.

Some of these classes include counseling 200 and 150 as well as a larger number of English classes.

The purpose is to speak to current issued and reflect on historical pieces throughout literature.

Counselor Chelena Fisher said, “A key principle of Umoja is to build off of Kwanzaa. It’s “unity.” It’s an African-American geared program that makes sure the students are meeting their needs, not only academically, but socially, culturally, and that they understand their role within the community.”

The event started with short, seminar-like talks from counselors such as Brittany Lundeen who gave a discourse on the functions of the Transfer Center, and director of Public affairs Miya Walker, who examined the methods of interaction through the various social media venues of Cerritos College.

She also gave a step-by step process of how to access information through the Cerritos College website.

The resources found in the library and Financial Aid office were also touched on briefly.

Key points of this portion of the event were to ensure that the students had a voice, that they understand what is available for them, to make sure the students and faculty saw which people were their points of contact.

It also allowed for the students and staff to have an interaction and a connection about the questions “What does it mean to be a student here on campus?” and “How can we be successful in whatever we pursue?”

In an effort to create a sense of community, Umoja also reprised a showcased some but not all of the talent seen at the open mic formatted poetry slam.

Counselor Clara Ross Jones concluded, “With a combination of Black Student Union, the Umoja Program, other groups, we identified support services here on campus.

“These include faculty and staff members that could be resources to students, but also we let the students know that the power of them being resources to each other.”