Eastern’s Black Student Union kicked off its BSU week by hosting an open mic night in Seventh Street Underground of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union Monday night.

Eastern students came to present their songs, dances and recite poems.

Trinity Hudson, a junior majoring in psychology and the social justice director of BSU, said since she is in the BSU cabinet, it is important for her to participate in the events.

Hudson performed a piece that she created on her own.

“I was so nervous, but after receiving love from the audience, I humbly engaged, and afterwards I was like, ‘OK people received my message,’” Hudson said.

Hudson said she was quick with writing her piece because she has a passion for it, and when she has passion, time flies.

Dexter Kimborough, senior biological sciences major, was another student that got on stage and performed an original piece.

“I had this piece in my phone for quite some time, so I just wanted to share it,” Kimborough said. “I thought everyone else would understand my story.”

He said that performing on stage was not a problem for him because he really practiced.

“It was like I was talking to anybody and I was interacting with everyone,” he said.

Adriana Mister, freshman business major, volunteered to go up once the crowd died down.

Mister was invited to open mic night by a friend and wanted to perform to entertain the audience.

“I was a little nervous going up, but once I got off, I felt good,” Mister said.

Armani Brooks, freshman television and video production major, played the piano and sang.

“I wanted to expand my music talents to everybody and see what other people were doing,” Brooks said. “Once I got on stage and started singing, I felt the energy from the crowd.”

Brooks said when he got off stage, he was excited because the audience was cheering him on.

Brooks said that he likes to make music.

“I’ve been doing it for about 11 years now, I’ve been singing since I was six years. It’s always been in the family. So, when people told me I could sing, I started taking it seriously,” he said.

Devon Davis, junior business major, went acapella once he got on stage.

Davis said he attended the event because he believes in showing support for black organizations on campus.

“Singing is a comfortable spot for me, I haven’t done it in a while, so it felt good to be back on stage ang singing in front of my peers,” Davis said.

Davis said that once he got off stage, he wanted to go back on.

Lulu Shimonde, junior behavioral neuroscience major, was one of the students in the audience.

“I went to open mic night because it was an opportunity to get involved on campus as well as to spend some time with new and old friends,” Shimonde said.

Shimonde said that open mic night was an opportunity to see vulnerable and new sides of people.

Cynthia Belony, sophomore nursing major, was another student that came to support.

“I came to open mic night to support friends and see what other EIU students have in common,” Belony said. “It was amazing to see everyone from different backgrounds come together and have fun.”

Bre Celestin can be reached at 581-2812 bjcelestin@eiu.edu.