Former N.C. A&T Student Government Association President and Vice President of External Affairs Marcus Bass visited his alma mater’s Honors College to discuss the power of now.
Bass, who graduated in 2009, is based in Raleigh as the executive director at Advance North Carolina. He also holds the title of deputy director of North Carolina Black Alliance among other leadership roles.
Bass has been permeating his local community with his dedication to civic service since his college days. He initiated several grassroot efforts to elevate campus life, including Greensboro’s largest student march to the polls between Bennett College, UNC Greensboro, Greensboro College, and N.C. A&T.
Now, 15 years later Bass is still making sure that N.C. A&T students are still, “thinking of what we can do now,” to change the course of history. The topic of his honors lecture in Frye Hall was, “Leadership for Positive Change”.
He opened the session by discussing how being at the university with honors is a distinction beyond A&T in reference to the honors college students in the audience. Once commending them for their efforts he discussed how persons in their position should be the vessels of change on campus.
“The alumni at A&T are already gone,” Bass said. “The opportunity to make history is in your hands.”
He strengthened this gesture by talking about the powers audience members have.
“Remember that we have three individual powers: The power of self, the power of us, and the power of now,” he said. “The power of us is the collective power of the honors college, NCAT, and other HBCUs showing up.”
Bass ended the session with an insightful Q&A about the ways students can use their respective powers and negotiate with authority to get what they need.
Honors Lecture Series Presenter and freshman multimedia journalism student Avery Patterson talked about her admiration for Bass’ encouraging words and more.
“I really loved how he emphasized that we’ve already taken such large steps as students just to apply and attend A&T. Now it’s time to make sure we don’t take the new opportunities given to us for granted,” Patterson said.
Honors Student Advisory Board President Jarrod Mason had similar sentiments about the lecture.
“Oh, so often in the Black community, Black men are highlighted negatively, but last night, it was good to see a family-oriented man speak on his career,” he said. “I took away the general concept of bringing a positive mindset into every journey I enter.”
Bass plans to continue to utilize his platform to reach every inch of his local community before the end of the election. For more information about voter readiness follow @ncatolce on Instagram.
