Northeast College Student Diversity Club Celebrates Black History Month

In honor of Black History Month, the Students for Social Diversity Awareness (SSDA) club at Northeast College of Health Sciences celebrated by sharing trivia factoids, inspirational artwork and motivating student stories with the campus community.

Lifting Voices of Black Students

Shining a spotlight on Black students currently in the Doctor of Chiropractic program at the College, SSDA featured stories highlighting the students' values and their hopes as future healthcare professionals.

"As chiropractors in training a lot of what we are taught is to listen and believe our patients' lived experiences, which ultimately optimize outcomes by having us consider the patient as a whole," said Northeast student Jasmine Cobbina (D.C. '22) in her Black History Month student spotlight.

SSDA President Harshdeep Parmar (D.C. '23 ) said the club wanted to contribute to the annual celebration by providing Black student stories and more on the history of the month-long event. "Through SSDA, we celebrated by looking at past achievements of great leaders and by elevating the voices of future Black doctors," said Parmar. "Black History Month celebrates diversity by taking us beyond the history books. Our goal was to celebrate the impact of African American culture and emphasize the importance of it."

Charles Mitchell Jr. (D.C. '24) was also featured in SSDA's Black History Month spotlights and said, "Being an African American male pursuing a doctorate in a field where there is little Black representation, I can inspire and motivate students like myself." 

Bringing Black History to the Forefront

SSDA further celebrated the month by sharing Black history through a quiz distributed to all students via email. It featured questions about when Black History Month began (1926, and officially recognized by President Gerald Ford in 1976) and the first African-American Nobel Peace Prize winner (Ralph Bunche in 1950). As well, an educational campus bulletin board was decorated by SSDA and featured Black leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks.