Fairfield University’s Black Student Union (BSU) hosted their annual fundraising event, “Rep Ya Flag” this past Friday, Sept. 23. 

Life@Fairfield’s event description from years past describes the Rep Ya Flag event as an “event [that] brings students together to rep their flag through music, dancing and mingling.”

The description for the event continues with, “It does not matter what flag! Anything that you identify with that you believe deserves repping is important to us.”

“It was an energetic and exciting night,” said Samantha Flores ‘25 when describing the event. “I loved being able to celebrate all the countries everybody was representing.”

Vice President of the BSU, Mekaylia Ingram ‘25, commented on the event. 

“Rep Ya Flag is an annual event that is hosted by the Black Student Union to create a safe space for students from many different backgrounds to represent who they are and where they came from,” she said.  

Ingram continued to detail the BSU’s constant goal, being “to make everyone feel seen, heard and celebrated as they continue their journey at Fairfield University.”

President of the BSU Sebastian Michel ‘23 commented on the event’s success. 

“The Rep Ya Flag party went pretty well in my opinion. The party allowed people to show off their country’s flag,” Michel said. “Countries that were represented ranged from Nigeria, Brazil, Trinidad, all the way to Kurdistan. The country that I represented was Haiti, so I wore a shirt that showed the Haitian Flag.” 

Michel describes what being Haitian means to him. 

“Being Haitian means being resilient and revolutionary. No matter what obstacles we face as a country, we continue moving forward,” he states. 

Ingram adds to the success of the event by stating, “It was really great seeing everyone come together and celebrate the differences in cultures as well as have a great time!”

Other students commented on the country they were representing and the importance of the country they represented.

Sophomore Jennifer Fajardo represented Colombia: “I wore my yellow, blue and red soccer jersey to represent what I call home, Colombia,” she said.

Students also voiced how their flag is a big part of their identity and who they are today.

First-year Blessed Barrios commented, “At Rep Your Flag I represented Belize, and my indigenous flag, Garifuna. These flags make up who I am today, from my character to my morals. Being a part of these cultures has contributed to who I am today.”

Barrios continued to detail her excitement to be a part of BSU and the hope she has for the club in the continuing school year.

“I am excited to be a part of BSU this year because I participated in something similar at my high school and based on my experience at Rep Ya Flag,” she said. “I have a great feeling about how wonderful BSU will be this year.”

Barrios continued to talk about her high school experience and how she sees the BSU becoming a solid community for her where she will be able to thrive.

“I’m excited for BSU this year because in high school I was able to find and feel a sense of community and was given the opportunity to thrive around people who would support and love me,” Barrios said. “I was able to connect and relate to those around me and became a part of a family that I knew would always be there for me, which is what I see BSU becoming for me.”

Michel comments on the outreach and participation the event garnered. “Overall this event brought residents, commuters and outside guests together which is an awesome thing to see.”

He concluded by detailing future events to be on the lookout for.

“The next event hosted by the BSU that I want people to look out for will be our 3 vs 3 Basketball tournament that will occur sometime in October, with the grand prize being a $100 Visa card to each member of the winning team,” Michel stated.

For more information on the tournament, students should follow the BSU on Instagram @Fairfieldbsu_.

 

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