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Hundreds of students and families gathered successful the Satellite Student Union connected Oct. 12 for Super Saturday, an yearly outreach lawsuit hosted by the Black Student Success Initiative to supply mediate school, precocious schoolhouse and assemblage assemblage students with assemblage readiness and retention resources, and assistance parents amended recognize however to enactment their children who are heading to college.
Former nonrecreational shot subordinate Robert Golden was this year’s keynote speaker. Born and raised successful Fresno, Golden graduated from Edison High School and attended the University of Arizona earlier playing successful the NFL. He spent six seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier retiring successful 2018. After his retirement, Golden founded Golden Charter Academy, a K-8 charter schoolhouse successful westbound Fresno focused connected biology acquisition stewardship.
Golden utilized his keynote code to speech to students astir making their dreams a reality. He said, “When I was successful simple [school], I wrote that I was going to spell to the NFL. I was going to marque millions of dollars. I was going to bargain my ma her archetypal house. It happened.
“Fast forward, and I wrote that I wanted to unfastened up a schoolhouse and physique a installation that was going to springiness our students the champion of the best. We opened up our schoolhouse and secured $24 cardinal to physique our state-of-the-art installation successful Fresno. I springiness you each this accusation not to brag connected me, but to amusement you that if you constitute your imaginativeness down, marque your plan, it volition happen.”
Following the keynote, students and families were escaped to be workshops connected a assortment of topics, including fiscal assistance and A-G assemblage admittance requirements. Attendees could besides enactment successful hands-on activities related to the arts and science.
Additionally, attendees had the accidental to enactment successful an African Drum Interactive and spot a show from the Red Wavettes, the university’s majorette team. There was besides a assets just passim the time to link students and families with some on- and off-campus resources.
With Black and African American students making up little than 3% of the university’s pupil demographic, Super Saturday plays an integral relation successful closing equity gaps.
“I’m hoping [students and families] get knowing and clarity connected however assemblage is attainable,” said Sade Johnson, programme manager for the Black Student Success Initiative astatine Fresno State. “We person to instrumentality actionable steps each year, from kindergarten done precocious school, particularly if they’re first-gen students. We anticipation Super Saturday opens up a speech astir what higher acquisition tin be.”
Outside of Super Saturday, the Black Student Success Initiative hosts programming passim the twelvemonth to enactment pupil success. Visit https://studentaffairs.fresnostate.edu/bssi/ to larn much astir the initiative.
