Brotherhood fidelity achievement. That is the motto for The Black Male Collegiate Society (BMCS), according to Vernon Gair. BMCS is an organization that is takes pride in leadership and service; they mentor young males fighting to change stereotypes.
BMCS became an official organization in the 2010/2011 school year. Among the founding members, two remain: Justin Rose and Vernon Gair.
Rose, now a graduate student at UIS, served as BMCS’ president for the first two years, and now is the graduate assistant for the organization. Gair, however, is the current president. He is a senior and is triple majoring in business administration and management, with a concentration in accounting.
The goal of this group is to try and help “solve some of the problems faced by African American males, especially with the attendance and retention,” Gair said. When they motivate each other to do better, they change the way people view them on campus. Being a part of this organization means more than just building up a resume. They hope to build lifelong relationships and connections that will be able to guide them into being successful men.
“One of the main things that stood out to me was that they [BMCS] were based on brotherhood,” said Duran Simmons, a senior business administration major. Simmons also serves as the executive vice president for social events.
Becoming a part if this organization is not as easy as coming to a few meetings, it takes time and dedication. In order to be an official member you have to have done 30 hours of service. According to Gair, they won’t “abandon” anyone for bad grades, but they do try to aim for a 3.0 or higher from their members.
“If we’re not doing something on campus, we’re doing something off campus,” Simmons said. BMCS commits not only to helping the UIS community, but also to the Springfield community. The organization has many members who volunteer with Big Brothers, Big sister, and they also have a partnership with the Boys and Girls club. There they coach basketball for 45 minutes on Saturdays and do some counseling with the boys who play basketball there.
Some of the younger members of the organization have already stepped up and they are ready to take a bigger role in the group when their senior members graduate. Daniel Owusu Bempah is a freshman computer science major and he said he initially liked BMCS because he “saw how organized the group was” and all the services they were involved in.
BMCS currently has 15 members, but after this year’s induction they will have over 20 members; and they if they continue in the same path, they will continue to grow.
