SEMO's NABJ hosts inaugural Donning of the Kente ceremony to honor graduates

Two soon-to-be graduates and members of Southeast Missouri State University’s chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists earned an important recognition Monday evening: They were the first Southeast students to be honored with the Donning of the Kente ceremony.

“You have joined the ranks of those 44 founders who gathered on Dec. 12, 1975, in Washington, D.C., to form an organization that would accurately reflect the lives of African Americans,” read faculty adviser Tamara Zellars Buck. “As I don you, remember to follow their lead, but not following the path. Go where there is no path to begin a trail.”

With those words, students Jasmine Massey and Alex Bargen cemented in Southeast NABJ history the beginning of a tradition the organization plans to continue each year.

The Donning of the Kente is an annual cultural achievement ceremony celebrating the graduation of students who recognize their African roots, according to NABJ philanthropy chairwoman Karis Gamble, who spoke Monday about the ceremony’s history. The Ghanaian Kente cloth is used as a symbol of African American heritage in the adornment of the graduation robe, she said.

Though not apparent from the organization’s name, NABJ members do not have to be black or journalists, something Bargen can personally confirm.

Alex Bargen smiles while hugging Southeast Missouri State University mass media administrative assistant Bonnie Gerecke after being adorned with his Kente stole during the inaugural Donning of the Kente ceremony Monday at Rust Center for Media in downtown Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

“As a gay man, I’m in a fraternity, I’m in everything else. There’s diversity in everything I do, but ... I wanted to get involved in something else that related diversity, my major and kind of had networking abilities,” Bargen said, citing his reason for joining the organization.

The organization’s only white member, Bargen joined NABJ at the start of the fall 2019 semester and became treasurer. To be recognized in the inaugural Donning of the Kente ceremony at Southeast is a big deal, Bargen said.

“It’s mind-blowing,” Bargen said of the recognition. “Just because it is an honor. ... It feels weird that I have to explain why I joined NABJ. It’s just surreal that I’m going to be in the first one.”

Asked whether he felt like he got the experience he hoped for from NABJ, Bargen didn’t miss a beat.

“Oh, much more,” he said with a grin.

Bargen will earn his degree in advertising with an emphasis in marketing management. Massey, on the other hand, will earn her degree in multimedia journalism and psychology.

Massey joined NABJ in the spring of 2017 thanks to the urging of her former roommate and then-NABJ president Taria Graham. She had just transferred to Southeast from St. Louis Community College-Meramec in Kirkwood, Missouri, and was ready to get involved.

Now, she’s preparing to graduate as the organization’s vice president.

“We have come a long way from when I started,” Massey said. “... We’ve done a lot just in this one semester. We’re literally like a family, so for them to do something so meaningful for us, it really means a lot.”

NABJ president Patrick Buck echoed Massey’s sentiment during and after the ceremony.

“We support each other. We’re very big on checking on one another,” Buck said. “We’re big on congratulations and working with you to get to that point.”

There really aren’t many requirements to join NABJ, Buck said.

“We’re looking for all types of skill sets, all types of mindsets,” Buck said. “We want people to be open and ready to learn, ready to grow with us.”

“It’s a great way to build connections with other students on campus, learn from other students on campus, whether you’re a journalism major or not,” Massey said of NABJ. “... I want to be able to come back and be like, ‘You know what, I helped build this organization, and ... they’re still doing an amazing job.’”

More than anything else, Buck said the ceremony means unity among people.

“... Not only [among] black people but people among our organization and our community because there’s people here who have nothing to do with journalism who are just ... friends,” Buck said. “And they’re coming together to watch people don something that’s traditionally African and that means something to the black community. It’s just us preserving our culture.”

Among those who spoke at Monday’s ceremony were NABJ secretary Makayla Caldwell and Bonnie Gerecke, administrative assistant in the Department of Mass Media.

NABJ meets Mondays at 5 p.m. in the basement of the Rust Center for Media. The organization will break as the semester ends, but Buck said meetings will resume in the first week of the spring semester.

“Join NABJ, bring great ideas, fresh ideas,” Massey said. “We’re a family, we don’t bite.”