The smell of savory egg, cheese and sausage breakfast burritos, fresh fruits, warm croissants and hot coffee filled the air. Members of the African-American Association arrived at school at 7 a.m. on Feb. 2 to provide teachers and staff with a filling breakfast. 

Organized by CTE teacher and club sponsor Canvis Edwards, this prized tradition was started by former sponsor Sheila Walker over 28 years ago. Since then, Edwards took it upon herself to continue to serve breakfast to the school community.

“Most of the organizations on campus volunteer to do a breakfast, but Ms. Walker always tried to find an African-American restaurant … and reached out to them to do the breakfast,” Edwards said. “Most of our officers were working with [theater], so to make it quick, we went with one of the vendors that went with HISD.” 

Baseball coach and business teacher Nick Ozuna was one of the faculty served, and he found the gesture “really nice.” He was joined by others like Robert Curtis, the girl’s track-and-field coach.

After being a part of the African-American Association for less than two weeks, junior Taylor Robinson woke up at the crack of dawn to serve.

“I’ve been looking for certain Black clubs and African-American central clubs, and since we don’t have a BSU [Black Student Union] anymore, I just looked for AAA.”  

 Robinson, like many other African-American students at Bellaire, joined AAA to “get more familiar with the Black student body” and “find a sense of community within [Bellaire].”

However, volunteering for a new club was no walk in the park for Robinson.

“At first I was kind of stressed because I got there a little late, and I wasn’t able to get in,” she said. “I had to wait like 10 minutes but then once we got in and set up, it went smoothly. I would do it again.”

Members like Robinson want to invite fellow African-American students to join a space where they can be themselves transparently: “It’s a club where if you want to come and find a sense of community, you definitely have it.”

Keep up with the club by joining its Remind @belaireaa and following its Instagram page @bellaire_aasa. AAA is hosting its annual Black History Month Program on Feb. 23 from 6-8:30 p.m.