For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, Wichita State’s Student Activities Council (SAC) brought back a Kansas City trip to celebrate Black History Month.
On this trip, students were able to walk through the Negro League Baseball Museum (NLBM), the American Jazz Museum and could explore Kansas City Country Club Plaza.
“A lot of our students come from varying backgrounds, and it’s great to expose them to new thoughts and ideas,” Student Engagement & Belonging (SEB) Associate Director Tia Hill said. “If we can do that through trips like this, I think it’s really beneficial.”
Lynne Ogubere, a graduate student from Nigeria studying criminal justice, was one of many international students who attended this year’s trip.
“I really wanted to experience something different. I’ve not been to Kansas City before,” Ogubere said. “My favorite part was reading about all the history (in the museums) and getting to learn about things I didn’t know before. It was quite interesting.”
Students were given the opportunity to learn about different parts of Black history at the NLBM and the American Jazz Museum. Both offered extensive amounts of information and engaging ways to show people the histories through plaques and objects from those time periods.
The NLBM is set up with many lifesize sculptures, showing what life would’ve been like for African American baseball players during segregation.
In the American Jazz Museum, an area called “Thinking in Jazz” allowed visitors to listen to different instruments, rhythms and melodies commonly used in jazz music. The experience allowed attendees, like first-year nursing student Alexis Hernandez, to explore what Kansas museums have to offer.
“I haven’t really done anything with school outside of going to class,” Hernandez said. “(Being able to) get out of town was the first thing that caught my eye, and I really like museums.”
In the American Jazz Museum, a section called the Blue Room. A jazz bar by night, the Blue Room, during the daytime, is where lessons for different jazz instruments and vocals are given.
Lisa Henry, one of the Blue Room vocal teachers, was giving lessons to a couple of her students while WSU students were visiting the museums. Henry noticed the audience she had attracted and encouraged everyone to sing a rendition of “Kansas City” by Little Willie Littlefield with her students. Henry told the crowd, “Jazz is for everyone.”
“I really liked the jazz museum,” Hernandez said. “My grandmother’s a huge jazz fan, so it was nice to look at (the) history about that stuff.”
Students then were given free time to shop, eat and explore Kansas City at the KC Country Club Plaza.
Cameron Morgan, a student program coordinator with SEB, said offering immersive ways to educate WSU students on different cultures is meaningful when trying to help students see beyond their own personal experiences. He said it can be hard to replicate immersion in a classroom.
“This year I just wanted to give a more historical educational approach to some of the things we do,” Morgan said. “Instead of just focusing on the social aspects or things of that nature.”
Morgan works mostly with the underrepresented student body at WSU. Along with being the student programs coordinator, he is the adviser for the Black Student Union (BSU) and facilitator for Men of Excellence and Black Excellence Support Groups.
“It’s more of an experience, getting students and taking them places. It’s a lot more immersive, you get a lot more interaction,” Morgan said. “So students have a lot more fun, and so I think that removes some of the barriers, too.”
