The African-Caribbean Students Association (ACSA) hosted a bake sale in front of Campion Student. Center Sept. 22 to spread awareness about ACSA and raise money for their organization.
Maliha Sadaf ’24, ACSA president, said the club sold baked goods to build community among students.
“When we have these food events, we’re not just connecting based on culture, we’re connecting on food, we’re connecting on building these relationships by getting to know one another,” Sadaf said.
The goal for the bake sale was to raise money to fund ACSA’s future events, Rochelle Walker ’26, ASCA treasurer, said. Walker said fundraising was also important because in the past, the club had difficulty getting reimbursed for the money members spent on events.
“We don’t want to be completely dependent on the school for everything,” Walker said.
ACSA was in danger of becoming inactive this year due to a lack of board members, Tahlia Fedee ’26, ACSA vice president, said. Walker said most past ACSA leaders were seniors who graduated in 2023. Fedee said a senior asked her to join the organization’s board to keep it from going on hiatus.
“Now here I am, vice president,” Fedee said.
Fedee said building community among students of color on campus is a goal for ACSA.
“There’s not a lot of people of color on campus,” Fedee said. “These clubs [give] everyone a chance to find people that are like them, that share similar cultures, similar backgrounds, even similar upbringings.”
Bianca Brown ’27 said she believes all students at St. Joe’s should see different cultures on campus.
“Everybody here comes from different walks of life, where they’re not exposed to Afro-Caribbean culture, Black culture,” Brown said. “And I think it’s very important to be able to show that to people.”
Reina Faustin ’27, who is Haitian, said seeing a student-led organization with members who look like her made her feel more included.
“I’m a Caribbean student, and I didn’t even know they had [this] organization,” Faustin said. “So when I came here and saw them, I felt a little included. There’s not many things on campus that are dedicated to us people of color.”
