Black United Students reflected on the efforts of the past year in its last formal meeting Wednesday night in the multipurpose room of Oscar Ritchie Hall.

Members of BUS discussed the events and successes of the 2014-2014 academic year.

“This academic year has been phenomenal,” vice president of BUS Mamadou Ndiaye said. “We’ve been putting in a lot of work. We’ve been showing passion. And I feel as though we have really uplifted our community here on campus.”

Current president and graduating senior Matthew Thompson said he hopes to see continuing progress and success from the BUS members in upcoming years after he graduates from Kent State.

“This is just the beginning, and I’m looking at you guys to continue this work,” Thompson said. “Keep the ball rolling and keep the torch burning.”

He continued to say the efforts of BUS have had an effects on the students of Kent.

“The effects are very real for us (black students),” he said. “So keep making that a point. And I applaud you all for making that a point this year.”

 Director of programming Leia Belt also spoke at the meeting regarding the efforts of the past year and highlighting the most memorable moments.

“My favorite part about this year was that we pissed off a lot of people,” Belt said. “I mean, Matt (Thompson) was getting calls early in the morning about BUS students acting up. That was really empowering for us to realize that our voices mattered.”

There are no public BUS meetings for the remainder of the semester.

Contact Daisha Overstreet at [email protected].