Lil' Sibs Weekend: Minority Report

Cortni Moore
Feb. 17, 2011
Word Count: 698

Michigan State University's annual Lil' Sibs weekend appeals to broader crowds in efforts to increase minority exposure and involvement of older siblings.

Lil’ Sibs Weekend: Minority Report

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Three campus organizations collaborated and hosted the first annual Teen Sibs party, Feb. 4, in efforts to attract more minority students and provide the older siblings with an event they could enjoy at this year’s Lil’ Sibs Weekend.

“We decided to host a party because we wanted to attract the teen 12 through 16-year-old crowd with something they would enjoy too, since most events at Lil’ Sibs Weekend are usually for younger kids,” said Alycia Chuney, 21, Lyman Briggs Zoology senior and secretary of AASMP.

The president of Successful Black Women organization, Shardaya Gregory, 20, a Special Education junior and member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Delta Zeta Chapter, said that when she suggested the event to the members of African American Student Mentor Program she didn’t think as much of the minority aspect as she did of wanting to provide the older siblings with an event they would enjoy.  She said she knew the older kids didn’t want to come because they think it’s “boring.”

AASMP members and triplets, Alandra, Alayna and Alycia Chuney, 21,  recalled only small amounts of minority involvement throughout the previous years that they had participated in Lil’ Sibs Weekend and wanted to make a difference.

The University’s website states, during the fall 2010 semester, “students of color” accounted for 16.2 percent of the campus community. Many of the African-American students enrolled at MSU are from urban areas such as Detroit, where high school graduation rates and college enrollment are low compared to many of its surrounding cities.

The initial purpose of Lil Sibs’ Weekend isn’t to just go to parties, but some believe it is to show younger age groups what college life is like and to encourage them to enroll. “The atmosphere is positive and organizations are coming together to have fun. We’re just displaying a better atmosphere opposed to a lot of the home violence and we’re encouraging the kids to visit,” said Tatum Miles, 21, Human Biology and Psychology senior, fund-raising chairperson for AASMP and AKA sorority member.

 Aaron Sanders,22, Packaging senior and president of AASMP, said there are some cases in which students often become discouraged while dealing with the stresses of growing up in urban areas and begin to stray away from their educational paths at early ages. He said there is a lack of positive role models that children feel they can relate to. “If we show black people something else then they would embrace it more. We want to show the kids that you can still have fun and get a degree and succeed,” said Sanders.

Going for a different approach to increase involvement of minorities with the annual event, Ryan Robinson, Political Science Pre-Law senior and member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, Zeta Delta chapter, said the fraternity has been involved with Lil’ Sibs Weekend for at least four years. “Each year we try to do events that minorities don’t normally get to experience growing up.” This year they hosted a magic show with an estimate of 200 people who attended, becoming their “best turnout yet,” Robinson said.

Unlike the Teen Sibs party which was funded by the hosting organizations, the fraternity men chose to partner up with the University Activities Board whom assisted with approximately one-fourth of the costs and also located them in the main lobby of the Union Building. Having an area located in the midst of all the other events caused the audience of the Magic Show to increase with children of all ages and backgrounds throughout the show.

Although there were differences in approaches, the Magic Show and the Teen Sibs party had plenty in common as far as goals. The Teen Sibs party had an estimate of “about 300 people” who attended, said Gregory, making it one of the UAB’s most successful events that night.  Both events succeeded in increasing the amount of minority involvement, as well as diverse age groups during Lil’ Sibs Weekend and plan to participate again next year in hopes of even more.