119 Euclid talk emphasizes importance of mental health strategies for Black students

Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter here. Around 15 Black students gathered at 119 Euclid — now the Barner-McDuffie House — Wednesday night for a mental health talk titled “Mind your Matter.” Attendees shared and listened to each others’ stories, participated in activities and learned strategies to live stress-free lives. The talk was co-hosted by Syracuse University’s Office of Multicultural Affairs and Barnes Center at the Arch. Two Barnes peer educators, Kelvin Boakye and Kayla Turner, led the event, which was specifically intended for Black students. “It’s really important … to talk about the intersections that come with being a Black student on a college campus; those kinds of stresses within ourselves,” Turner said. “So I think it’s really important for students to have places like this to be able to pour into themselves.” According to the presentation, about 50% of Black students report they have never received any mental health education prior to college, which is why Turner and Boakye said they held this talk. Turner and Boakye began their talk with a discussion of intersectionality. When asked, one student attendee defined her understanding of the term as “being a woman,...