On Aug. 14, at the very first Black at Queen’s Post Grad event in Toronto, one of the evening’s most telling moments happened around a couch.
There sat Mona Walrond, MEd’77, Ed’78, telling stories about her Queen’s days and life since to younger alumni and current Queen’s students. When Walrond mentioned she wasn’t on LinkedIn but wanted to stay in touch, organizer Ruth Osunde, Artsci’26, gave her contact information and went to the mic to ask others to do the same.
Within a few minutes, there was a lineup in front of Walrond.
“That was so powerful, because when we talk about culture and the importance of culture, something that sometimes gets missed is the importance of storytelling,” says Osunde. “Cultures were built on storytelling.”
That kind of connection was exactly what Osunde hoped to create with the event. Held at the Centre for Social Innovation in downtown Toronto, it brought together about 100 Black alumni and current Queen’s students from across faculties and generations.
The evening included food, drinks, and time to connect, as well as remarks from Stephanie Simpson, Artsci’95, Ed’97, MEd’11, LLM’19, Queen’s Vice-Principal (Culture, Equity, and Inclusion); Tianna Edwards, MA’23, Interim Director of the Yellow House Student Centre for Equity and Inclusion; Devon Aransevia, Artsci’17, President of the Queen’s Black Alumni Chapter; and keynote speaker Colin Lynch, Artsci’07, Com’07, Managing Director and Head of Private Markets at TD Asset Management.
Two goals for the event were to start a Black alumni contact list and to lay the groundwork for a new fund supporting the Black student experience. (Photo: Abby Samuels)
Osunde says one goal for the event was to start a Black alumni contact list to support future events, mentorship, and stronger connections between students and alumni. Organizers now have contact information from registrants and plan to seek their consent to create an official list.
They also hope to establish a fund supporting the Black student experience. Conversations with Queen’s are underway, and Osunde hopes such a fund could eventually provide sustainable support for initiatives such as a Black Student Success Centre.
The event itself also received broad support from across Queen’s, and organizers raised more than $15,000 before ticket sales.
The idea for the gathering started as Osunde approached graduation and wondered what people she had known at Queen’s were doing now. She soon thought bigger: why reconnect only with people from her own years?
So, she started assembling a volunteer team that eventually included Mujeedat Lekuti, BHSc’26, Marketing Lead; Azaria Inniss-Zdjelaric, Artsci’25, Logistics Lead; and Yafiet Teame, Artsci’26, Community and Partnerships Lead. They also reached out to partners including the and the Queen’s Black Alumni Chapter.
She was putting exactly the skills to work that she had developed through various student government and campus leadership roles, including AMS Vice President of University Affairs.
“Queen’s sets its students up for success in the sense that we get a lot of personal responsibility and we’re asked to lead a lot of things,” she says. “As student club leaders, we get the opportunity to plan events at this scale.”
But none of this is just about her, she says. The larger goal with the event and what comes next is about making sure connection continues long after students leave campus.
“We want to support that transition from student to alumni,” she says. “We want to bring people together.”
And, she adds, strengthening the Black experience ultimately strengthens Queen’s as a whole.
“An improved Black experience is an improved Queen’s experience.”
To learn more or get involved, connect with the Queen’s Black Alumni Chapter or reach out to Ruth Osunde at r.osunde@queensu.ca.
