Last week, the Black Student Union (BSU) hosted “March Madness,” five days of events that started on Monday and lasted until Friday. These events included Chopped, Mini-Golf, UNO, Squid Games and a basketball game. 

This is one out of many of the events that the BSU has held on campus. With the BSU’s number of members growing, there are bound to be more events along the horizon. 

“We have had a lot of growth on social media,” BSU President Kayla Brown said. “We have gained about 15 new members this semester.” 

Brown said the club’s biggest achievements this semester include its growing engagement and starting a new podcast.

“Our biggest achievement is having consistent engagement throughout the semester and starting a podcast to connect with our members more,” Brown said. “[We] give them a space to share their thoughts, experiences and opinions without being censored.”

On Monday, BSU hosted “Chopped,” a three-round cooking competition where the participants had to use every ingredient that they were given to make an appetizer, an entree and a dessert. These four participants were David Attram, Drew Williams, Delaney Pittman and Lindsay Simmons. They would take turns presenting their dishes to the judges, Devon McGee, Amoriah Selby and Nyla Rozier, and the participants would be judged based on presentation and taste. After three rounds of preparing and presenting, the ultimate winner of the competition was Simmons, who created a s’more containing various fillings, coated with oats and peaches. 

On Tuesday, the BSU headed to Puttery Pittsburgh to play mini-golf. On Wednesday, the BSU hosted an UNO event, using many different versions of the card game, such as Regular UNO and DOS.

On Thursday, the BSU hosted “Squid Games” in Lawrence Hall 200. It contained re-creations of the challenges from the hit Netflix show. First, the event started with a game of red light green light, where the participants had to freeze whenever “red light” was said. 

Next, participants had to cut shapes from cookies; a recreation of the honeycomb challenge. They then played tug of war. Afterward, they played hopscotch, which was a recreation of the glass panels challenge. 

Then, the participants had to play mancala, where they had to steal their opponent’s marbles. The event ended with the titular squid game, where the participants had to run from one end of the room to the other and avoid being tagged by the guards. 

The last day of March Madness ended with a basketball game on the fifth floor Student Center gym between “Team 3 Hundred,” “The Pacific Islanders” and “OHANA,” with “Team 3 Hundred” taking the win. 

All students are welcome to join BSU.

“We’re here to help no matter who you are,” Sisanorite Tuedor, treasurer of the club, said. “[We’re] aiming to be an organization that’s extremely known amongst students and staff. We’re not done yet; we’re still going to make progress.”

To learn more about upcoming events, visit BSU’s PointSync page.