On April 4, 2022, Winthrop junior, Shaniah McClellan, created The BluePrints club. Her goal in creating this organization was to create a sisterhood where Black women can unite.
“One of my aspirations is that I know Black women have created a lot of different trends, a lot of different innovations in this world, and yet we don’t receive enough credit for it. I feel like we should create a safe space for us in order to set boundaries for ourselves that other people or society doesn’t give us,” McClellan, a fine arts major and anthropology minor said.
Taliyah Blake, a sophomore chemistry major and the event planner for The Blueprints went into detail about the purpose of the organization and what you can gain from becoming a member, “The purpose of The Blueprint is to unify and uplift all young black women on Winthrop University’s campus so that they will cultivate and utilize new ways to heal their inner child and learn and grow through life lessons, and spirituality, and create and embrace the version of themselves that they desire.”
Alexia Vereen shares her experience as a Black woman of stereotypes, colorism and masculinization. “Personally, issues that I have faced are the stereotype of the strong Black women, colorism and masculinization, which way too many other black women face as well. We want to be able to decipher the origin of these issues and dissolve them immediately afterward,.” Alexia Vereen, junior English major and African-American studies as well as vice president of the Blueprint said.
All Black women can participate in a variety of upcoming events hosted by The BluePrints on campus. “Our upcoming events in order are the handout of candy grams at digs on the 14th from 11 a.m. to noon, the 15th, we are having an African Diaspora Panel discussion at Dina’s Place, on the 17th, we will be hosting a Colorism discussion panel featuring special guestssses at Digs, and lastly wrapping up February 24th we will be having a “Princess and the Frog” themed tea party at the McBryde Hall at noon,” Blake said.
The BluePrint’s committees exist to encourage member engagement so they can contribute to the success. They want members to be able to support and rely on one another while still being able to advance and survive independently.
“Membership and Recruitment, I want them to go out and meet people and try to recruit more members for our organizations,”.McClellan said.
“Marketing and promotions, for this semester I want to be more interactive with people so we will have Instagram reels asking people questions. For example, on February 14, we wanted to ask Black women on campus questions such as what does love mean to you? Wwhat steps should people take on their journey to self-love?” The BluePrints intend to collaborate with Rock Hill’s schools and black leaders.
The Blueprints are welcoming to every black woman on campus. The BluePrints gathers at Owens G01 at 7 p.m. every other Monday. The cost of membership for The BluePrint is $10.
The Blueprints has its membership application linked in their Instagram bio, @theblueprintswu.
