This year’s G.A.L.A. (Galvanizing Adolescents Towards a Legacy of Achievement) was another incredibly successful event for BWUA. Hosted on the eighth floor of Huntsman Hall, and Community Service Director Ernest Owens deserves accolades for securing such a chic venue. The members followed suit, as everyone looked quite elegant. After taking a slew of pictures we moved into the buffet. Once again, Ernest Owens deserves credit as the buffet had substantial variety, accommodating big vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. Following dinner came a brief speech by Mayor of Philadelphia Michael Nutter, a Wharton graduate himself. The mayor congratulated the members of BWUA for having for the success they have already had in coming to Penn and encouraged them only to keep on striving higher. Following his brief address, there was a brief intermission before the keynote speaker in which there was a touching acapella performance of Eyes on a Sparrow by Samantha Thomas and Nina Dominique. Afterwards Pennsylvania State Senator Anthony Williams took the stage to deliver the riveting keynote address. Senator Williams began with comedy, reminiscing of his college days when as a Franklin and Marshall student he was always on Penn’s campus visiting his girlfriend. He commented on how he saw himself reflected in the membership. He, just like the members of BWUA, was incredibly ambitious and had aspirations of becoming a wealthy and distinguished member of society. After stumbling into business, he shot up the ranks of PepsiCo because of his strong and unique skill set. He was a master at marketing because as he says “I knew and understood both the streets and the boardroom.” His father, who was a state senator himself, began asking Senator Anthony Williams if he would consider public office. He consistently declined, but when the police nearly burned down his childhood neighborhood be left PepsiCo and began his career at public office. Senator Williams remarked that it warms his heart to see how BWUA membership cares about giving back to our community, as the lacktherof is a pandemic among African Americans according to Williams. He encouraged BWUA’s members to continue to invest in African American communities, and closed with a reminder that they are the future. Finally, Youth Action representatives Gavin Grant and Anthony Phillips closed by thanking BWUA for the event and graciously expressing how much its support has meant to them.
