Long Beach City College commemorates Black History Month by celebrating its third annual Sip N’ Paint on Thursday, Feb. 22 at the LBCC Bistro.
The Sip N’ Paint was made in partnership with the Umoja student club, the culinary arts club and LBCC staff member Bree Pinkerton.
“They did a really great job of bringing everyone together, promoting it, bringing that synergy and collaboration on campus,” said Outreach and Recruitment Specialist, Camesha Maxwell-Harris.
Staff and students gathered together to enjoy an evening full of music, food and conversation representing the African American community.
The Sip N’ Paint offered participants a creative outlet to celebrate Black culture by recreating an illustration of a traditional African mask, primarily used during rituals and ceremonies.
“The imagery that is being drawn is something that represents our culture, so it’s an opportunity to expose students to those different factors of our culture,” said Umoja counselor coordinator and student club advisor, Chrishaad Moye.
To honor the Black community, the culinary club worked with the Umoja club to create various traditional dishes.
“It was really wonderful to be able to give to a community of students who come together to celebrate diversity, inclusion, equity. It definitely represented something special for not only our club but Umoja as well,” said Culinary Department Chef Instructor, Juan Lopez.
“(I) really enjoyed the collaboration with the culinary club. To share our food felt natural,” said Vice President of the Umoja student club, Joey Smith.
Participants of the culinary club also shared their experiences of getting to cater for the event this year.
“It was really fun cause a lot of the food that we made is not typically food that I make so I was not only able to not only make it but also like, try the food. It was just absolutely delicious,” said culinary student, Samantha Ho.
Bree Pinkerton, coordinator of the LBCC Sip N’ Paint events, speaks on why collaborating for this event was essential.
“We are always trying to get student involvement in some way, somehow, so it felt like a perfect time to get that going. It was unique,” said Pinkerton.
LBCC staff and students look forward to celebrating the remainder of Black History Month following the success of this year’s Sip N’ Paint event.