By Samantha Garza | Staff Writer
The Baylor Black Alumni Alliance held its inaugural achievement award ceremony at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 30 in the Barfield Drawing Room at the Bill Daniel Student Center.
The evening began with a reception that featured finger foods and refreshments. Alumni got to mingle and catch up with old friends before dinner and the ceremony.
President Linda Livingstone, Baylor Black regents and Baylor Black Alumni Alliance founders — including Marie Brown, its current president — attended the event.
According to Brown, the organization was created in 1980 by alumni who wanted to extend their relationships, bonds and experiences beyond the Baylor campus. She said the organization was chartered by Baylor in 1985.
Brown said the Baylor Black Alumni Alliance has awarded over $40,000 in academic scholarships to minority students.
“It’s important [to have organizations like this] because it continues to foster those relationships that we built as students on this campus,” Brown said. “There are lots of experiences that we had that other people, of non-color and of color, did not experience, so it’s important to keep those missions and those visions alive and well.”
Brown also said it is important for current and past students to know there is a network of people who have experienced some of the same things they have, as it helps them to not feel alone.
“It’s bittersweet,” Brown said. “It’s been 28 years in the making, and for it to come to fruition now is amazing and a blessing, and I’m very thankful for the opportunity to be president.”
Baylor alumna Lori Williams is now LSU’s deputy director of athletics for leadership and strategy. She said the event was a great opportunity to come back to campus and reunite with people she had not seen in a while.
“Just the opportunity to come back and connect with old sorority sisters and just other fellow alumni — I thought this was a great opportunity,” Williams said.
Williams said she wanted to be part of the first achievement award ceremony and to make it a tradition to come back.
“I think it’s important for our current students to always be able to have that connection point,” Williams said. “Whether it’s for networking purposes or just for the sense of community … events like this help facilitate that.”
Baylor alumna Sharon J. Barnes is currently vice president of HR in the Texas Medical Center Clinic. She said she attended the event to celebrate and reunite with former friends and to acknowledge the presence of Black students at Baylor.
“It’s always good to come back and reminisce and relive some of our college days,” Barnes said.
The ceremony featured recipients of the Dr. Vivienne Malone-Mayes Scholarship and the Trailblazer Scholarship, along with the presentation of the Rev. Robert Gilbert Distinguished Black Alumni Awards.
