By: Renae Visico
On Thursday, March 12, the Brooklyn College (BC) Black Student Union (BSU) and Women of Color at Brooklyn College (WOC) hosted their second annual Vision Board Workshop at the Student Center to celebrate Women’s History Month.
After receiving positive feedback from last year’s first Vision Board Workshop, BSU and WOC felt motivated to host another one this year and keep the tradition alive.
“We just wanted to have an event where people can showcase their visions for the year,” said WOC President Dakota Marshall.
“We just want people to be as expressive and creative as they can be.”
BSU and WOC thought it was especially important for women in racial minorities to take some time to set their goals together in a supportive environment.
“Sometimes Black women and women of color don’t always get spaces where they’re encouraged to dream big or really focus on goals,” BSU President Kelsey Ganthier told The Vanguard. “It’s also empowering to be in a room with other women doing the same thing and supporting each other.”
Students were drawn to attend the Vision Board Workshop not only to remind themselves and visualize their goals, but also to destress from the academic semester and to further connect with the BC community.
“It’s very important to set goals for yourself, and this is a perfect opportunity to engage with my peers and talk about what our goals are for the year,” said junior Dayna Taylor.
The workshop kicked off with a speech from Wisdom Obadofin, a 2024 BC alumna and a past president of WOC. She shared her story of the grand visions she set for herself when she started college, and how she established a happier and more successful version of herself than the one she originally thought of for herself.
“The grades were not that good. My business was not going that well,” recounted Obadofin. “But by the time I actually got my life sorted, and by the time I realized that just because my visions didn’t match my reality didn’t mean my visions were done, was when those visions could actually become reality.”
Obadofin provided students with tools to revise their visions into more realistic goals, such as allowing yourself one bad day per week or by simply setting smaller goals.
“What I want us to understand is that sometimes you have to revise your visions,” said Obadofin. “If you had something planned in 2024 and it didn’t work out, do it again in 2025. Do it again in 2026, 2027, and 2028, up until you are able to achieve it, and start making small changes.”
Students were inspired by Obadofin’s speech in adapting a more realistic mindset for their goals, and were assured that it was never too late to turn their visions into reality.
“When I got to hear Wisdom speak, it really just sheds some light that everybody has their own struggle, and you really never know that,” said senior Deja Bernard. “And so I think it was really important for me to not feel as alone in my own struggles.”
After the opening speech, supplies were handed out to students to start creating their own vision boards, including paper, stickers, yarn, and rhinestones. Many common visions in students’ boards included being kinder and more disciplined, traveling, getting a job, and eating healthier.
“This event allows you to sit down, get yourself together, and put it out visually so you can allow yourself to grow in a way that you didn’t know was possible,” said freshman Amnerys Taberas. “It’s nice to relax, do something creative, and not have a pencil in your hand doing an assignment.”
For many students, attending the workshop felt like a step in the right direction in achieving some of the goals on their vision board.
As a commuter school, BC students sometimes struggle to find long-term community. The Vision Board Workshop encouraged students to branch out and start forming new relationships outside of the average classroom setting.
“I wasn’t doing anything, so I might as well go meet new people since that’s something that was already on my vision board,” said junior Kayla Culvac.
The event closed off with food and a performance by the Blaze Dance Team. Staying true to the event’s theme of female empowerment, the dancers performed a lively and fun choreography to Beyoncé’s “Grown Woman.”
“Because it’s Women’s History Month, we wanted it to be an all-women’s piece as well,” Blaze President Evelyn Kedelina told The Vanguard. “I want students to feel the fun that we had while we showed it to everyone.”
BSU and WOC hoped that students would leave the Vision Board Workshop feeling motivated to turn their visions into reality, and to realize that it’s not the end of the world if they don’t.
“The goal is for it to be a reminder of what they’re working towards and the kind of future they want for themselves,” said Ganthier. “Even small steps toward those goals matter, and the board can keep that motivation going.”
Students interested in the BSU and WOC can visit their Instagram pages: @bc_blackstudentunion and @womenofcolorbc.