Kings, queens and heritage: African Student Organization hosts pageant for charity

Shamaal Sheppard and Ilham Adam are the new king and queen of Africa — or at least they are at Pitt.

On Saturday, Nov. 14, the African Students Organization hosted its fourth annual African King and Queen Pageant. Sheppard and Adam, like other contestants for the pageant, had a chance to showcase their African heritage through poetry, hair braiding and personal anecdotes.

The ASO hosted the pageant, which undergrads Ruba Idris and Joe Gansallo emceed, in the William Pitt Union Assembly Room. The ASO chose contestants based on their applications, ultimately accepting all five applicants. Along with the title of King and Queen, the ASO would donate the money it raised to the charity of the winner’s choice. More than 130 students attended the pageant.

Adam, a social work major and contestant in the pageant, said cultural events like the pageant give campus diversity a new dimension by allowing students from diverse backgrounds have their culture expressed in full bloom for the enjoyment and education of other Pitt students and faculty. In all, the pageant served to unify black students at Pitt and promote their African heritages.

“Even though there is a lot of diversity on this campus, the diversity does not serve a purpose unless it’s being utilized and it’s just sitting there in its own clusters,” she said.

The other contestants for this year’s pageant included mechanical engineering major Stanley Umeweni, who represented Nigeria, finance major and sophomore Laila Ismail, who represented Ghana, and nursing major Seraphina Parker, who represented Benin.

Sheppard, who represented Ethiopia,  said this event has been an initial step in connecting him with his African roots.

“This event helps me appreciate [my heritage] more and look back to where my ancestors are from,” he said. “I am just now kind of diving into the African community.”

Sheppard, 20, was born in Japan, but his extended family migrated from Panama. A year ago, he learned from his grandfather that his great, great grandfather hailed from Ethiopia and decided to represent Ethiopia for the pageant.

The contestants showcased their interests in the “talent” portion.  Contestants like Stanley Umeweni, 18, explained the Magnus effect — a concept in physics that explains that pressure decreases the faster an object moves through the air — while Adam braided hair and Sheppard delivered a poem.

During the final questions portion, judges asked contestants to describe the charity they wanted to support and then say something they wished the world knew.

Umeweni supported the charity Working to Advance Science and Technology Education for African Women, a nonprofit founded in 2007. The charity worked to increase the opportunities for African women entering into science and technology fields. He criticized cultural barriers holding African females back from pursuing their dreams to enter a STEM field.

“My mother [grew up in Nigeria]. She was good at math, chemistry and the sciences. When she wanted to go to the engineering school, she was [often] told she couldn’t,” he said.

Michelle Nkumsah, president of the ASO, said that in light of the racial issues that occur on campuses, these cultural events are a good way of helping to bring students from different backgrounds together and understanding diversity within diversity.

“Regarding racial tensions, we hope that by spreading cultural awareness here on campus, people can start to relate to others, appreciate differences and ultimately see people as people,” she said.

The participants crowned King and Queen will spend their year representing the ASO, giving speeches and presentations about their charity and attending all functions to raise awareness for their charities. The King and Queen will also walk at Wazobia, the ASO’s cultural extravaganza and fashion show in March. Adam chose to give money to the Women’s Education and Economic Center and Sheppard chose to give money to the humanitarian organization CARE.

Ismail said the pagaent allowed her to see unity among black Pitt students.

“It is great to unify a lot of the black students here at Pitt, especially the African students. We get to show our many talents to the schools and a lot of us got to know each other through this pageant,” she said.