Atlanta, GA-Junior Corey’ella Collins is a student that attends Hillcrest High School and she is a part of the Black Student Union (BSU) at the school. Collins had the opportunity to travel with the Utah Jazz Basketball team to Atlanta, Georgia, with other students from the state also a part of the BSU. She was with them from February 3 through February 7.
The Utah Jazz basketball team partners with a non profit program called The Close Up Organization that specializes in educating young people about civic responsibility, where they take trips to different states such as Washington and this year they brought 20 African American students, about one from every school to travel alongside them.
During the duration of this trip, the group of students traveled to different monuments such as the High Museum of Art, the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park, the Civil Rights Center, and the Coretta Scott King Rose Gallery.
“My favorite place that we went was the Civil Rights Center because there were a lot of different simulations. For example, there was one where you got to sit at a diner and put on headphones to experience what it was like to sit through a non violence protest. It was sad but at the same time really cool.”
They then proceed to bring the group to the Atlanta Hawks vs the Utah Jazz game where Collins was able to meet one of the players of the team. She met Cody Williams, the forward for the Utah Jazz, and was able to have a small conversation and get a photo with him.
The group of students flew to Atlanta and then was transported on a bus. “We traveled around the city on a really big and nice bus,” stated Collins.
“My overall experience was a ton of fun. I got to meet a lot of different students around Utah. The Black Student Union at Hillcrest is smaller in comparison to other schools. I got to connect with all the other BSU’s in Utah so now we can all collaborate and do other events together. I was able to meet all of their leaders and I made a lot of new friends.”
