More than 200 Waterloo Region youth welcomed at Laurier Black Student Association’s Beating the Odds conference

Feb. 26, 2024

More than 200 Waterloo Region Black high school students from 10 schools visited Wilfrid Laurier University’s Waterloo campus in early February for the Black Student Association’s 19th annual Beating the Odds (BTO) conference. With a theme of “Empower, Educate, and Excel,” students had the opportunity to connect with Black professionals and Laurier students to boost aspirations about pursuing higher education.

“I'm really anxious about post-secondary education,” said Tara, a Grade 11 student from Eastwood Collegiate Institute in Kitchener who attended the conference. “Seeing Black people here today, talking about their post-secondary journeys and how non-linear they were, makes me feel less pressured to be linear in my journey. It makes me feel less isolated.”

Established in 2005 by Laurier alum David Green (BBA ’06), the Beating the Odds conference aims to introduce Black students to the university and address high school dropout rates among racialized students in Waterloo Region. Today, Black students still face significant barriers in Ontario’s education system. Data collected by the Ontario College of Teachers’ Professional Advisory on Anti-Black Racism reveals that Black students are more likely to drop out of school than other students and two and a half times more likely to be in applied programs compared to their white peers.

“University can be very mystifying for Black students growing up in predominantly white spaces," said Gilene Graham, president of Laurier’s Black Student Association. “There are barriers to getting Black students to campuses and showing them what post-secondary can look like. Many kids attending the conference have never visited our campus, despite attending school just a few blocks away. Today, our emphasis isn’t on recruiting. It’s about fostering peer-to-peer relationships between local Black youth and university students. We are showing these high school students that if they decide to stay local for post-secondary, this community is here for them.”

The conference featured keynote speaker Vicki Olatundun, a lawyer and executive director of Supporting Every Eve’s Daughter Safely (SEEDS), an organization established in 2018 to address the rising crisis of sex trafficking and exploitation in Canada. Olatundun’s presentation was followed by a panel discussion featuring Black professionals working in mental health, anti-racism advocacy, and the film and sports industries. The panel aimed to showcase Black individuals with diverse professional backgrounds who have achieved success in their careers.

“A lot of these kids do not see people who look like them in positions of success and power, unless it’s in the media,” said Graham. “Seeing someone who looks like them in these positions helps them picture themselves in them as well.”

Panelists included Justin Serresse, manager of men’s basketball operations and head coach at Laurier; Patrick James, senior manager of corporate partnerships with the Toronto International Film Festival; Salem Debbs, motivational speaker, yoga instructor and anti-racism educator; and Keosha Love, artist and founder of Our Women’s Voices, which aims to empower and amplify the voices of women and girls.

“Today is such an incredible day. It is Black joy, Black liberation and the empowerment of Black youth,” said Debbs. “To see Black youth be unapologetic, express their joy, not hold back in any way, and for their blackness to be celebrated in relation to who they are, brings me to tears.”

The conference agenda also included workshops led by Black professionals and Laurier student volunteers on topics including grant writing, media literacy and Afro-dancehall-style dance. To encourage participation, students were incentivized with awards. Joëlle Kabisoso Kapinga, founder of Sisters in Sync, an organization dedicated to empowering Black women and girls, offered a cash prize to the group of students who presented the most compelling student grant application pitch with a budget of $350. The $150 prize would go toward supporting their proposed idea.

“Black high school students need access to information to unlock their full potential. For example, they may not know how to apply for scholarships or the Ontario Student Assistance Program,” said Graham. “There are so many kids in this room who are ambitious, but they do not know where to point their ambition. All it takes is one person demonstrating ‘this is how you do this’ or ‘this is how you find that’ and their entire trajectory can be transformed.”

“Hearing Vicki Olatundun’s words of encouragement about not victimizing ourselves, but rather rising to confront the racial and systemic challenges in our society, is something I strive to do,” said Tara. “Knowing that there are others who share similar thoughts and aspirations is truly inspiring.”

Laurier’s Black Student Association hosts events during Black History Month and throughout the academic year. To learn more about the Beating the Odds conference or upcoming events, reach out to abs.laurier@gmail.com.