Miss Black Colorado shares a hopeful message with the TJ community. photo by Will Forrester
Miss Black Colorado 2018 came to visit Thomas Jefferson High School as a guest speaker for the Black Student Alliance Club.
Black Student Alliance (BSA) is a club that serves as an advocate of the African American voice on campus and focuses on creating an inclusive community. It exposes all students, faculty, and staff of Thomas Jefferson to new ideas in order to cultivate positive change and enhance the students’ high school experience. Career Technology Education (CTE) Partnership Coordinator and BSA sponsor Danny Showers had a chance to meet Miss Black Colorado and invited her to come for a visit. Showers remarked, “I love my students here, they’re like my family, and when I saw this opportunity I knew instantly that it had to become part of the fabric of our school.”
Sharrie Gaybriano is the winner of the 2018 Miss Black Colorado pageant, which is a state-wide scholarship competition for women of African-American descent to celebrate their unique backgrounds, talents, and beauty. “This experience definitely affected my life for the better because it gave me the platform I needed to reach more than just my community. So now, not only am I impacting the black community, but as Miss Black Colorado I’m also reaching women of all colors,” stated Gaybriano. In her speech to BSA, Gaybriano reflected upon the importance of higher education and how having a great support network of people around you can make a big impact in your life. Community was clearly at the backbone of her speech to the students. She set the goal of helping others in addition to oneself as a priority to strive for throughout your life by using the metaphor, “when you get to the top of the elevator, make sure that you send it back down for somebody else.”
Gaybriano established herself as a strong and powerful role model for the students. Senior member Khari Clark commented on the most significant take away from Miss Black Colorado’s visit: “Gaybriano said that when you fail, you fail up, which is definitely important because sometimes when people fail they get down on themselves and that prohibits them from succeeding.” Gaybriano’s message here was to learn from your mistakes, and she used herself and an example stating that in the past, “one challenge that I struggled with [was] identity, and I think that is something that everyone faces. Identity is very crucial right now, but I would just suggest taking a moment to be with yourself and focus on mindfulness.” Students have each developed distinct values, beliefs, and behaviors, which can be extremely confusing to navigate. However, a collective consciousness enables our community to help define our own identities. “Your generation is composed of incredibly brilliant, young minds, and that is really inspirational,” Gaybriano stated, “just remember to stay motivated, stay positive, and keep growing.”
With that, Miss Black Colorado made an impactful monetary donation to the BSA club so that they can continue their work on creating a welcoming space for the students at Thomas Jefferson where they can learn about their history, culture, and community in a positively diverse and academic environment. “Even now in our society, people take for granted what being black really means, even the struggles we go through on a daily basis, even outside the school,” senior Terrence Carter acknowledged, “but BSA helps to emphasize what it means to be black and how to express yourself in that way, being proud of who you are and what you are.” The visit and donation of Miss Black Colorado reinforced the importance of community outreach. “Having BSA as another support system within the school creates a good opportunity for everyone to be able to succeed in,” senior club president Selena Pierre affirmed.
Miss Black Colorado and BSA continually emphasize the importance of inclusion, unity, and community involvement to the student body. Gaybriano and her inspirational collaboration with BSA is another great representation of the welcoming space here at Thomas Jefferson. Regardless of ethnic background, Miss Black Colorado reminds TJ students to respect one another and understand that each individual’s identity is valid and worthwhile.
