Mill Valley’s new club, the Black Student Union, had its first meeting before school Tuesday, April 30. The club was created as a space for all students to learn about different diversities.

Club sponsor, and school resource officer, Darion Hillman was initially approached by the students about starting the club before winter break. He spent a lot of time with the students preparing for their first meeting.

“They came to me with an idea and they asked me if I would support it and what I thought of it,” Hillman said. “From there, we worked together and did some research on other Black Student Unions in the area.”

For junior Shawn Njoroge, attending the meeting was a great way for him to meet new people.

“I decided to attend this meeting because I feel like there is not much of a Black population at Mill Valley,” Njoroge said. “I felt that it would be great to get to know some more people who are in the same boat as me, talk with other Black people and talk about how we feel it is being a minority at Mill Valley. I want us to be open and feel like a community.”

Club leader sophomore Ether Kisivo shared that the positive impacts and sense of community are what the club is all about.

“We felt like there wasn’t a sense of community within the Black community at our school and so we thought that if we should start something to kind of bring together our culture,” Kisivo said.

“This means to me that we’re getting closer to being more diverse, and to having more inclusivity in the school, and I think that’s a really good thing,” Njoroge said. “Because there’s nothing wrong with being different, but the problem is, how do we go about it?I think this club is going to really open people’s eyes even though there’s not much diversity in Mill Valley. We can be more aware of the situation.”

Hillman has some big visions he wants to see the club accomplish in the future including learning new things about African American culture.

“We want to just take the club and have some guest speakers come in from different diversities and different upbringings and kind of hear their stories,” Hillman said. “Also do some field trips during Black History Month, continuing to educate and learn and educate others on African American culture and also learn new things that we didn’t know at the same time.”

Njoroge leaves a message for students saying that all people are welcome to attend the meetings no matter their ethnicity.

“I think other students should know that we’re not trying to be exclusive. We’re not trying to cut people out. The whole point of the club is to bring people together,” Njoroge said. “And it’s not something people should be scared of. It is kind of different because Mill Valley hasn’t had anything like this, but I think people should know that we are welcome to everyone.”

Kisivo agrees with Njoroge, sharing that the club is open to anyone interested in learning more about diversity.

“The club is open to everyone. If [students] are just wondering about our culture or one of our events sounds fun,” Kisivo said. “I feel like the biggest misconception is that it’s just for Black people, which isn’t the case. We’re here for everybody.”