Taylor Johnson is a senior at Perkiomen Valley High School and she is currently co-president of the Black Student Union along with Zarek Moore.
“I was walking around school last year, waiting for someone to pick me up and I saw a flyer for the Black Student Union (BSU), and I thought it was odd since I hadn’t seen it before. I ended up signing up on google classroom- and I dragged one of my friends to the meeting with me. I think there’s always been a need for it here, and I mean why not show up? It was a chance to see what would happen and really to see if other people would show. At that very first meeting, it was literally just the two of us, but since more people have been participating. These meetings have added value to my high school experience, and it gives me another environment to be in. In high school, this is the only space that I am ever in when I’m not seen as the minority. BSU has recently focused on a lot of outreach and exposure- whether that is through community service, cultural events, and other things of that nature. Recently we went to the Winterthur Museum, where we looked at Anne Lowe and her impact. On MLK day we set up an educational center, where we talked about Ruby Bridges and her life and story, along with Martin Luther King Jr. This was set up for kids from kindergarten to 5th grade. We’re also starting to transition into more high school, almost college enrichment – we are going to have speakers coming in from Ivy League schools and agencies to talk about their current careers. This will then give students a chance to learn how they got to their positions and what steps to take in high school. My plan right now is to probably attend a HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), since I toured two and they are now my top schools. For Black History Month, we haven’t completely set up the speakers yet, but we are working on having people come in every Thursday!”