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Come Home, Know Your History, Build Your Future

Dear �Ը������� Family:

Welcome home, and welcome to a new chapter of your �Ը������� journey.

HOMYs, whether you are arriving on campus for the first time, returning for another year, transferring from another institution or recently crossed the stage and became a �Ը������� graduate, you are part of something bigger than yourself. You are part of a living legacy.

Our HOMY family represents generations of �Ը������� Black alumni:

H — Honored Ones
O — Old Heads
M — Mature Ones
Y — Young Alumni

As president of the �Ը������� University Black Alumni Chapter, I want you to know that we see you, we believe in you and we are counting on you. You are our future.

To our incoming freshmen: take advantage of every opportunity �Ը������� places in front of you. Explore your major. Ask questions. Meet professors. Join organizations. Build relationships. Discover talents you did not know you possessed. College is not simply about earning a degree; it is about developing the knowledge, confidence, relationships, discipline and life skills that will help you navigate the world beyond the classroom.

To our transfer students and returning students: keep pushing. You already understand that the road to a degree can have twists, turns, setbacks, changes and unexpected challenges. Do not allow one difficult semester, one disappointing grade, one closed door or one person's opinion to define your future.

And to those who graduated this spring and summer: CONGRATULATIONS! You are no longer simply preparing to become alumni, you are alumni. But graduation does not mean that your relationship with �Ը������� ends. We hope you will return, mentor, volunteer, support scholarships, share your professional knowledge and help the next generation find its way.

Your Education Comes First

Let me say this plainly: your studies are your first priority.

Stay focused. Stay disciplined. Stay the course.

Your degree is important but so are the skills you develop along the way. Learn how to communicate. Learn how to manage your time and money. Learn how to network. Learn how to advocate for yourself. Learn how to collaborate with people who do not look, think or live exactly as you do. Learn how to lead, and learn how to listen.

Set goals for yourself beyond graduation. Ask yourself: Who am I becoming? What problem do I want to solve? What contribution will I make? What will my life mean to the people who come after me?

Your dreams can come true, but dreams require work, preparation, courage, persistence, and sometimes, the willingness to fight through circumstances that tell you to quit.

Push. Fight. Keep going.

And remember that you do not walk alone.

Know Who Walked Before You

At �Ը�������, Black history is not something that happened somewhere else. Black history happened here.

In the late 1960s, Black students organized through Black United Students (BUS) and demanded that �Ը������� recognize Black students' history, culture, experiences and contributions. Those efforts helped establish the Institute for African American Affairs in 1969, the Center of Pan-African Culture in 1970, and eventually, the Department of Pan-African Studies in 1976, known today as the Department of Africana Studies. �Ը������� describes the department as “the house that BUS built.”

And there is another extraordinary piece of history you should know: �Ը�������'s Black United Students helped transform Negro History Week into the monthlong Black History Month observance in 1970—years before the federal government formally recognized February as Black History Month in 1976. 

That history lives in Oscar Ritchie Hall.

Oscar Ritchie Hall honors Oscar W. Ritchie, Ph.D., who became the first Black faculty member at �Ը������� and the first Black faculty member hired at a predominantly white university in Ohio.

So, when you walk through those doors, understand that you are walking through a place built through vision, courage, organizing, scholarship, sacrifice and determination.

Know your history. Study it. Question it. Protect it. Add to it.

Please support Africana studies and Oscar Ritchie Hall. Take the courses. Attend the programs. Learn from the faculty. Visit the building. Listen to the elders. Talk with alumni. Learn the stories that textbooks may never tell you.

Our ancestors opened doors so that you could walk through them.

Your responsibility is to leave those doors open—and make the pathway wider—for somebody else.

We Must Continue to Hold the Line

We live in a complicated and rapidly changing political and social environment. Regardless of political party or administration, our responsibility as students and alumni remains the same: learn, participate, organize, communicate, vote, serve and remain engaged in our communities.

Some of you will become attorneys, educators, physicians, engineers, artists, entrepreneurs, scientists, elected officials, journalists, filmmakers, researchers and community leaders.

And some of you will become the new storytellers.

Social media, podcasts, independent journalism, video, digital publishing and other emerging platforms have created new opportunities for young people to communicate directly with the public. Use those tools responsibly. Verify information. Learn media literacy. Research before you repost. Tell stories with context. Protect people's dignity. Challenge misinformation. And use your voice to educate, not simply to generate attention.

The future of communication will belong to people who understand both technology and truth.

A Special Invitation: Come Home

I also want to extend a special invitation to our alumni to COME HOME.

Homecoming should not simply mean returning for a football game. Coming home means returning to the place that helped shape you, seeing what has changed, remembering what must never be forgotten and asking what we can do to make our home better for the generation coming behind us.

Bring your stories. Bring your experience. Bring your professional networks. Bring your resources. Bring your love for �Ը�������.

And if you can, bring a student with you.

We also welcome our friends and alumni to connect and network with us Friday and Saturday, and a special shoutout to the Divine Nine organizations at �Ը�������—your history, service, scholarship, leadership and community engagement are important parts of the larger story.

Honoring Professor Mwatabu S. Okantah

Finally, we ask our students and alumni to come together to recognize Professor Mwatabu S. Okantah as he prepares to retire from �Ը������� after 32 years.

Professor Okantah has served as a professor and chair of the Department of Africana Studies, and his connection to �Ը������� reaches back to his own student years. He was a vice president of Black United Students in the 1970s and has helped preserve and teach the history of Black student activism at �Ը�������.

Professor Okantah has reminded generations of students that their presence in Oscar Ritchie Hall represents the vision of students who came before them.

We want you there.

Students. Alumni. Faculty. Staff. Friends. Community.

Please join us  to share in this moment, celebrate Professor Okantah's service, hear the stories and let him know that his work mattered—and continues to matter.

We Will See You at Homecoming

To the KSUBAC Board: thank you. Your time, energy, creativity, sacrifice and commitment are appreciated. The work of alumni organizations often happens behind the scenes, but it matters.

To our students: keep pushing.

To our recent graduates: come back and teach us what you have learned.

To our alumni: mentor somebody.

To our elders: tell us the stories.

To our young alumni: stay connected.

And to every Golden Flash: remember where you came from.

We are not simply attending �Ը�������.

We are part of �Ը�������'s continuing story.

The people before us dreamed about our presence here. Now it is our responsibility to dream about the people who will come after us.

Stay focused. Stay the course. Know your history. Build your future. And never forget that your �Ը������� family is here.

.
We will see you at Homecoming.
We will see you at home.

With pride, purpose and appreciation,

Georgio Sabino III, ’99
President
�Ը������� University Black Alumni Chapter (KSUBAC)