With the nights growing longer and colder, especially in the last month, CSUN students have had to spend their midterms and exam season walking back to and from their dorms in windy weather. The Nigerian Student Association (NSA) has taken it into their own hands to provide a solution, organizing their first “Movie Night” on Nov. 18 at the Lake Balboa Room in the University Student Union.
The NSA selected Kemi Adetiba’s “The Wedding Party,” a romantic comedy about a Nigerian couple overcoming obstacles on their wedding day.
According to Co-President and Co-Founder Margaret Fagvolu, despite this new organization still being in the process of becoming an official club on campus, it has been very active. NSA is doing as much as they can, trying to gain traction and build a community with students from CSUN and other campuses who have their own NSA organizations.
“It’s to establish a sense of community, you know. CSUN is a diverse campus, but Nigerians, our population is even smaller, so it was really important for us to just create a space and celebrate our culture,” Fagvolu said. “What makes us us and gives people the opportunity to feel comfortable in their skin.”
Fagvolu shared that she’s very thankful to be “blessed with a very big board,” leaving the chief of justice the responsibility of booking the room at USU ahead of time.
“It’s cozy season, so we just wanted to provide an event where people could be bundled up in their hoodies, bring blankets,” Fagvolu said. “And we’re providing them with light refreshments like popcorn, chips, cookies. We’re just gonna bundle in and watch a cute movie that is Nigerian, so those that aren’t Nigerian, kind of get an exposure to culture and what our films look like. So it’s educational as well.”
Fagvolu is a transfer student graduating in the spring. During her first semester, she looked for a NSA on campus, as she knew it is a popular organization in universities such as UCLA and USC.
She met Mildred Adebowale, who serves as the other co-president and co-founder “by the grace of God,” said Fagvolu. Together, they took inspiration and motivation to build the club, connecting with other Nigerian students who needed a community for themselves as well.
“A lot of people wanted to see it happen, so it was just a matter of getting hands and heads together to get it done. I don’t know, I just want other people to have that experience that I had but to actually find an Instagram for NSA,” Fagvolu said.
As a board, they went through the many classics in the culture, wanting to focus on more recent and popular films. After narrowing down to two options, a poll was posted on Instagram for the general body members to vote.
“We wanted to do a Nigerian movie to just refresh everybody’s minds on the culture and anybody who might not be Nigerian, just to get a little inside on our culture through that,” Adebowale said. “We are focused on spreading the culture.”
Moving forward, NSA will continue its monthly meetings to check up on and make sure everyone is okay and up to date on their classes. Last month, NSA organized a study session to help with upcoming midterms and events.
Alongside their next event, which is to be planned, a new intern position will be opened up soon for anybody interested in working with the board and being a leader on campus. They will have the opportunity to shadow both co-presidents and see how they work with NSA and other campuses.
More information and any updates for events organized by the NSA can be found on their official Instagram page.
