Bingo Night at ASU gets student and alumni blood pumping

Editor’s Note: Albany State University alumna Jahnae Nelson, The Albany Herald’s Circulation Manager, took a needed trip down memory lane Tuesday, checking out the goings-on at her alma mater.

ALBANY –- The room filled with students of all demographics, as Albany State University pulled out the gold and blue balloons for its Homecoming R&B Bingo night on Tuesday in the C.W. Grant Student Union.

ASU students seemingly were overjoyed with the alumni interaction. Being able to watch as they helped and supported the students with healthy engagement through relatable conversation, brought nostalgia drops to my eyes.

At first thought, walking into the sweet homecoming aroma left me in great shock at how the music was drumming against the walls, and everyone was still able to hold to their seats. During my college tenure at ASU, I remember the same night but with rooms packed with dancing bodies and a dance floor that was lit up with plenty of marching feet.

Then I thought, maybe this was a different age in time, a time where technology is winning out over human interaction. However, after Alicia Richards, a freshman at the college, spoke with a reporter from the Herald, I realized much of what their tech reality is.

Richards said that coming to ASU brought an unexpected sense of excitement by how familiar she quickly became acquainted with everyone. She said there was no sudden fear of adjustment and said there are transformative day-to-day usages to incorporating phone apps to student life.

ASU has always made creating or joining organizations student friendly; now it is creatively done by the students.

According to Richards, an app called GroupMe is beneficial in meeting peers and finding common ground on a large campus. GroupMe is an app made to connect groups of like-minded people through group chats, current events, and content sharing. For example, if someone was lost on campus or needed help in a college course, he or she could connect to administrators or gain campus insight through various student-led group chats.

“Being at an HBCU (historically black college or university) will help me find myself and what my purpose in life is,” Richards said. “I have joined a group called Ignite Freedom that helps me meet other Christians here. So it helps.”

Jakari Dismukes, who is a fellow freshman at the college, said that he can attest to the same gratitude of coming to ASU. Dismukes came to the southwest Georgia college from Chicago this summer to study Visual Performing Arts. He said what drew him to ASU was when, “I saw ASU going viral on TikTok, so I decided to come check out the culture for myself.

“The weather here is different,” he noted. “It is much more sunny and warm, so it was different adjusting at first.”

Dismukes said he is teaching himself to stay “humble and out of the way,” being that he knows up-close what hanging with the wrong crowd and following temptations looking for what may seem an “easy way out” can lead to.

It was around this time in talking with the ASU students that I saw my HBCU come alive. The music was getting louder and students were on their feet waving their hands in the air and hugging one another in glee.

Getting students out of their dorm rooms, off their phones, and starting respectable relationships is what Jordan Davis, a campus Student Leadership and Development Coordinator and an alumnus said makes the student life more valuable. Davis said that often it takes a holistic approach to teach students healthy boundaries, development of their integrity, and everyday tools used to take the next steps to bring about change and start a course toward career commitment.

“My front desk is the student center, the amphitheater, and the hallways,” said Davis, who added that she uses her background in middle grades education, including the same motto that carried her through her four years of college. The motto: “Potential realized.”

“In order to lead a college student, whether they are just coming in or completing their exit exams, a holistic practice of sharing ‘my story’ and putting myself in their shoes better helps them feel accepted,” Davis said.

ASU compels students to be a part of the “RAMily,” a phrase that garners self-awareness and community support to help ignite a freshman approaching self-awareness on campus or the alumni who desires returning to a familiar stomping ground.