The African Student Association pushes towards inclusivity and awareness as they celebrate their 10 year anniversary. 

Created in 2012, ASA has always been an organization catered towards creating a safe space and community for African students at ACU. 

Mada Samb, a senior accounting major from Senegal, West Africa, is the current president of ASA. Samb has been involved in ASA as a member since her freshman year and has watched the organization grow. 

“When I look at ASA and the history of it, to me it’s a home,” Samb said. “It’s a home I feel welcome in and a home that can provide for me.”

While there are a lot of details still undecided about how the organization wants to celebrate this 10th year, the team has still been working tirelessly to get students involved. 

One way the group plans to celebrate the 10 year anniversary is through their end of the year banquet.

Hermela Aregay, a sophomore social work major from Dallas, is the current events coordinator for ASA. 

“Usually we host a banquet and since it is our 10th year we will add more to the banquet than usual,” Aregay said. 

The banquet is a formal event and will include a dance performance from the ASA dance team, introduce the 2022-2023 officer team and give out awards to active members. 

The banquet will also give alumni the opportunity to speak on behalf of ASA and discuss how the organization affected them. 

“We want to create awareness about ASA not only at ACU but also in the Abilene community,” Samb said. 

The organization is open to all students and promotes Christian values, inclusivity and encourages openness. Since there is diversity even within different African cultures, ASA wants to call attention to each culture instead of focusing on one specific one. 

The organization has hosted several events this semester and as this year comes to close ASA continues to keep ACU and the Abilene community involved in learning more about different cultures and experiences.