The Bellaire Multi-Racial Student Organization kicked off the new semester by defining its mission and objectives during its first meeting of 2025 on Jan. 14.
“We decided to meet since it had been a bit since we last hosted a meeting and had been receiving many different requests from club members asking for us to come back since they missed our club,” senior and Co-president Esaam Zaman said.
Even after a semester hiatus from club activities, more than 20 students attended the meeting.
“After the meeting, I felt proud that we could introduce new members to the club,” senior and Event Coordinator Allyson Nguyen said. “I was happy we were strengthening the multiracial community.”
The meeting opened with a reminder of the club’s mission.
“The point of the meeting was to hopefully introduce new members to the club,” Nguyen said. “We shared what BMRSO is all about: to celebrate the diversity of the multiracial student body at Bellaire.”
Officers guided the meeting with photos and videos, encountering only a minor hiccup when trying to get the audio to work. Despite the technical difficulty, they quickly got back on track and finished the presentation.
“Today, we wanted to spread awareness about the problems and issues that multiracial people face and how we can combat that by avoiding unintentionally harmful phrases,” Zaman said. “We also wanted all club members to feel safe and welcome in our club no matter what.”
Part of creating a safe environment is having representation in leadership. Senior and Social Media Manager Maximilian Strebel, one of the three multiracial officers, shared a personal anecdote about being biracial to encourage fellow multiracial audience members to share their own experiences.
“Being multiracial is definitely a very unique experience,” Strebel said. “My experience as a biracial person has been unique, and I have sometimes struggled to fit in because I am mixed race. I wanted to acknowledge other students who may also feel othered by groups they feel that they should be a part of.”
BMRSO continues to be an inclusive and supportive space, with plans for regular meetings and upcoming cultural holiday celebrations, including Lunar New Year and Black History Month.
“For the second semester, my goal is to have more meetings covering important topics,” Nguyen said. “I am currently working on an upcoming service project, which will be a project for Lunar New Year.”
With upcoming events, BMRSO offers interested students of all racial backgrounds something to look forward to.
“I will certainly be attending the next meeting so I can learn more about what it means to be multiracial,” club member and senior Samuel Rudin said.
BMRSO will meet on Tuesday, Jan. 28 to talk about Lunar New Year.
