In an effort to highlight the people who are leading colleges and universities across the nation, we at Watch The Yard reached out to Langston University and did an interview with Nathanael Rakestraw Edwards the 2023-2024 Student Government Association president.

The position of SGA president is a highly respected role and there is a special pride that one takes in being elected by their peers to lead. Nathanael, who is majoring in Organizational Leadership, is from Chicago. He is a proud Spring 2022 initiate of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

We interviewed Nathanael Rakestraw Edwards, and talked to him about his position, goals, future and what it means to hold this type of leadership position in 2023-2024.

Read the full interview below.

What is the biggest thing you’ve learned as an SGA president so far?

I’ve learned the importance networking and collaboration. Working between the student body and administration showed me the power we have when working together.

What made you decide to attend Langston University for undergrad?

I decided to attend Langston University because they invested a full ride scholarship opportunity in me. I was recruited by the Langston University Marching Pride Band and the faculty were very adamant about having a strong communication process with me. In the midst of the pandemic I ultimately decided to bring my talents to an institution that was already pouring into me.

How has Langston University molded you into the person you are today?

Langston University has molded me into the person I am today by positioning me to lead and create any opportunity I wanted to see. Being at a rural HBCU it’s no doubt that we experience a shortage of resources and opportunities that others have. The adversity this brings teaches me the strength in community and it also reinforces my purpose to create, lead, and serve. I’ve been granted opportunities that some could only imagine and I’m very confident that my attendance at Langston University has truly prepared me to “enter to learn and exit to serve.”

What specific initiatives have you headed up this year (or are planning) and how do you think they will improve the school and surrounding community?

Under my administration, I have implemented a freshman internship program to empower freshman to lead and understand the workings of SGA so our legacy can live through them. We have allocated $45,000 to different organizations and departments across campus. We’ve also given out over $15,000 in scholarships back to the student body. On the legislative side, we’ve continued to create legislation that represent to the voices our students and we were extremely happy to see our university administration approve a resolution that allowed students to enroll in the spring semester with up to a $1,000 bill with in the past, the account had to be paid down to $200 in order to enroll per semester. This initiative supports students experiencing financial uncertainty and gives them the opportunity to continue their education.

How is your SGA administration/school currently working on attending to the mental health of students?

We have actively been working for our university to implement mental health days within the academic calendar. This initiative supports students the same way regular health absences help, however it identifies health specifically as a growing concern in our nation and something that needs to be taken serious. Our student senate, led by Vice President Hannah Wall, is putting on a mental health week to address and support the mental health of our students.

What does leadership mean to you?

Leadership is a relationship between leaders and followers to achieve common goals. It’s an area to me that you can learn and grow through everyday. The stronger the relationship, the more effective I see the leadership being. One example of this relationship could be a manager and their staff. They are all tied to the one goal of making a profit for the company and the more the manager grows in their leadership as well as develops their relationship with the staff, the company would benefit from what the team is able to produce because of the leadership.

We now live in a digital world, what do you think schools need to do to represent themselves online in 2023/2024?

Schools can continuously grow in their digital marketing and growing their brand, but it is also important to stick to the mission of the university. Many people nowadays can get caught up on a digital look or what’s appealing to the eye but it’s important to ensure there is substance behind the digital footprint. Schools can also ensure our students are becoming more educated on artificial intelligence and how to use it moving forward. While attending the White House HBCU Celebration Day, we discussed the important topic of AI and how universities oftentimes are behind societal trends. It is ever important that we are pushing students forward ands not holding them behind. The world is moving forward with AI and the train will keep moving. We must hop on it.

Why do you think Watch The Yard is important to Black students and college culture?

Watch The Yard Is important to Black students and college culture because they continue to highlight the beauty within. There are several outlets that tear us down as a community and Watch The Yard makes an effort to push the positive and tell our story from within. We must take control of the narrative that is placed on Black students and college culture and that starts with how we display ourselves and highlight our successes.

What do you plan on doing after graduation?

After graduation, I will be entering the corporate workforce thanks to my university’s career development office and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. I will also continue my affairs in community development and programming and I plan to grow my non profit organization that targets young black youth to teach them financial literacy, college and career development, and other life skills that will prepare them for their future. I want to pour back into the youth the way I was poured into and I want to give them opportunities that people within low economic backgrounds may not get to experience.

We at Watch The Yard would like to commend Nathanael Rakestraw Edwards for his work as the SGA president of Langston University.

Share this on Facebook and help us highlight Nathanael Rakestraw Edwards and Langston University.

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Fans attending the inaugural CCXP México were in for a treat today as they were treated to a mind-blowing official trailer for the highly anticipated fourth season of the Emmy-winning hit drama series “The Boys.” Set to premiere on Prime Video on June 13, 2024, the trailer left attendees on the edge of their seats with its explosive sneak peek into what’s to come.

Cast members Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Chace Crawford, Karen Fukuhara, and Claudia Doumit took the stage for a diabolical panel, where they unveiled the electrifying trailer to a packed room of eager fans. The excitement in the air was palpable as attendees were given a taste of what promises to be the most thrilling season yet.

Season Four of “The Boys” will kick off on June 13, 2024, with three episodes, followed by a new episode dropping each week, culminating in the epic season finale on Thursday, July 18. The eight-episode season will be available for streaming exclusively on Prime Video in over 240 countries and territories worldwide.

In this upcoming season, the world is teetering on the brink as Victoria Neuman inches closer to the Oval Office, all while Homelander tightens his grip on power. Butcher, facing his own mortality and grappling with personal losses, finds himself estranged from the team. With tensions running high and the fate of the world hanging in the balance, the team must band together to confront new threats and old demons before it’s too late.

The stellar cast of “The Boys” includes Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Capone, Karen Fukuhara, Colby Minifie, Claudia Doumit, and Cameron Crovetti. Season Four will also welcome new faces to the ensemble, including Susan Heyward, Valorie Curry, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

Based on the New York Times best-selling comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, “The Boys” is brought to life by executive producers Eric Kripke, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and others. Produced by Sony Pictures Television, Amazon MGM Studios, Kripke Enterprises, Original Film, and Point Grey Pictures, the series continues to captivate audiences with its dark humor, jaw-dropping action, and thought-provoking storytelling.

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The “Grandmother of Juneteenth” and the man who contributed to parts of of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s most famous speech received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Bide at the White House on Friday.

They were among 19 people, including current and former elected officials, to be given the highest civilian honor.

Known as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth” for her decades of work pushing for Juneteenth to become a federal holiday, Opal Lee is a 97-year-old retired Texas educator. After the ceremony, Lee said she didn’t “know how to express” what it felt like to “be in the room with all these people who have achieved so much.” Among the honorees were Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh, TV journalism icon Phil Donahue, former New York City mayor and businessman Michael Bloomberg and Olympic gold medalist Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky.

“Getting Juneteenth as a national holiday has been something that so many of us have wanted for so long,” Lee said. “There’s so much more to do.”

In a packed East Room, Biden called the class of recipients “incredible people” whose “relentless curiosity and inventiveness, ingenuity and hope have kept faith and a better tomorrow.” 

Other recipients included Black luminaries like Clarence B. Jones, who served as King’s lawyer and helped draft the original “I Have a Dream” speech, and the late civil rights activist Medgar Evers.

Evers’ award was posthumously accepted by his daughter Reena Evers-Everette.

Biden praised Evers as a “patriot who was gunned down by the poison of white supremacy” whose “spirit endures.” He lauded Jones for “wield[ing] a pen as a sword and gave words to a movement that generated freedom for millions of people.”

Close allies of Biden also received the honor, including former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker and current Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; former Vice President Al Gore; former Secretary of State John Kerry, who recently served as Biden’s climate czar; and Rep. James “Jim” Clyburn, D-S.C., whom Biden credited for his presidency.

“I would not be standing here as president and making these awards were it not for Jim,” Biden said of 83-year-old Clyburn, who notably endorsed Biden in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary and saved his then-struggling campaign.

Lee organized a 2.5-mile walk to commemorate the two and half years it took for enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas to learn that they were freed by President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.  

In 2021, Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, solidifying June 19 as a federal holiday. When he signed the bill into law, he handed the first of many pens used to sign it to Lee. 

“Juneteenth is a day of profound weight and power to remember the original sin of slavery and the extraordinary capacity to merge the most painful moments for the better visions of ourselves,” Biden said. “Ms. Opal Lee made it her mission to make history, not erase it. We’re a better nation because of you.”

The Presidential Medal of Freedom was first established in 1963 by President John F. Kennedy. Among the civilians to have been awarded the presidential honor are civil rights activist Rosa Parks, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, former South Africa President Nelson Mandela, writer Maya Angelou, actor Sidney Poitier, activist Bayard Rustin, entertainment mogul Oprah Winfrey and athlete Michael Jordan, among others.

After presenting the awards, Biden concluded remarks by saying, “It makes you proud to be an American doesn’t it?” to a room full of applause. 

Vice President Kamala Harris congratulated the recipients in a social media post on Saturday, sharing a photograph of her with Biden and Lee.

“You represent the best of America,” she wrote in the post.

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In an effort to highlight the people who are leading colleges and universities across the nation, we at Watch The Yard reached out to Towson University and did an interview with Jordan Colquitt the 2023-2024 Student Government Association president.

The position of SGA president is a highly respected role and there is a special pride that one takes in being elected by their peers to lead. Colquitt, who is majoring in Political Science, is from Riverdale, Maryland.

We interviewed Jordan Colquitt, and talked to him about his position, goals, future and what it means to hold this type of leadership position in 2023-2024.

Read the full interview below.

What is the biggest thing you’ve learned as an SGA president so far?

My journey as the SGA president has been marked by lessons in leadership, advocacy, and collaboration. One of the most significant takeaways from my tenure is the transformative power of collaborative and inclusive leadership. Through initiatives such as expanding dining hall hours, creating support positions for first-generation and low-income students, and championing mental health awareness, I’ve learned that meaningful change requires not only vision and determination but also the ability to unite diverse voices and perspectives toward a common goal. Without engaging stakeholders whether it be students, faculty, staff, administrators, or other campus partners, I would not have been able to accomplish many of my goals. My experiences have reinforced the importance of leading by listening and community building to enact tangible improvements.

What made you decide to attend Towson University for undergrad?

Towson University stood out to me for its diverse community, pre-law opportunities, and Army Reserve Officer Training Corps program. As a prospective student passionate about social justice and civic engagement, Towson’s record of student leadership and participation in shared governance spaces was particularly appealing. I was drawn to Towson’s inclusive environment where students are given real opportunities to participate in decision-making processes. Aside from engagement, The university’s dedication to providing students with hands-on learning experiences and practical skills necessary for success in law school and beyond solidified my decision to choose Towson for my undergraduate education. I sought the advice of a couple of alumni students and knew that TU was the right choice for me.

How has Towson University molded you into the person you are today?

Towson University has been instrumental in shaping me into the person that I am today. Through my involvement in student government, campus organizations, and community initiatives, Towson has provided me with invaluable opportunities to develop my skills and cultivate my passion for social justice and community. The university’s diverse and inclusive environment has exposed me to a wide range of perspectives and experiences, fostering cultural competence, and a deep appreciation for the value of diversity. Additionally, Towson’s rigorous academic programs and hands-on learning opportunities have equipped me with the knowledge, critical thinking skills, and practical experience necessary to succeed in my endeavors and positively impact the world.

What specific initiatives have you headed up this year (or are planning) and how do you think they will improve the school and surrounding community?

The well-being and success of students should be the number one focus of any student government president. Eliminating barriers to success has been my focus during my term as treasurer and two terms as president of the Towson SGA. From expanding dining hall hours to creating scholarships for first-generation and low-income students, funding our laptop loaner program, and advocating for period product accessibility, each initiative has been guided by a commitment to provide access to opportunity. These initiatives improve the overall student experience and create a more inclusive and supportive environment that benefits the entire Towson community.

How is your SGA administration/school currently working on attending to the mental health of students?

Our SGA administration has prioritized mental health, and we’ve implemented several initiatives to support students’ well-being. One of the main priorities of the SGA over the past two years has been advocating for student wellness days as excused absences and promoting campus safety measures. Our student senate passed a resolution to urge the university to adopt the wellness day model, and several members of the SGA have been working tirelessly to ensure the bill gets the faculty supported needed to be implemented. We have also led campus safety walks to address student concerns about campus safety and walkability. These walks led to the installation of two new lights on campus, in addition to over eighteen being repaired. By addressing the unique challenges and stressors that students face we aim to create a campus community where every student has the ability to thrive.

What does leadership mean to you?

To me, leadership is not just about holding a title or position of authority; it’s about giving others a seat at the table and opportunities to develop themselves. As the first African American to serve two terms as SGA president at Towson University, I’ve learned that leadership is about leading by example, listening to the community’s needs, and breaking barriers to success. It’s about empowering others, building coalitions, and working collaboratively toward shared goals.

We now live in a digital world, what do you think schools need to do to represent themselves online in 2023/2024?

In today’s digital age, it’s more important than ever for schools to effectively represent themselves online and engage with students in virtual spaces. Higher education institutions will need to prioritize and invest in digital platforms for communication, outreach, and community building. I think it is also equally important for schools to invest in research and opportunities to enhance the security of online information and digital infrastructure. From maintaining updated websites and active social media channels to offering research opportunities, schools need to embrace technology to adjust to our digital age. As the SGA President, I recognized this need and digitized our entire internal expense and application process to maximize efficiency and reduce waste.

Why do you think Watch The Yard is important to Black students and college culture?

By telling Black stories, Watch the Yard inspires and empowers future generations to pursue their dreams and positively impact their communities. In a society where Black voices are often marginalized or misrepresented, Watch The Yard is a staple of representation and pride and fosters a much-needed sense of belonging and solidarity among Black students and college culture.

What do you plan on doing after graduation?

After graduation, I will be commissioned into the New Jersey National Guard as a second lieutenant in the signal corps through the Army ROTC program. Additionally, I will be taking a gap year before law school, during which I will work in the eviction prevention department at Community Legal Services, a pro bono law firm. My experiences as SGA president and my commitment to public service have inspired me to pursue a career in public interest law, where I hope to continue advocating for justice and equity in underserved communities. Ultimately, I aspire to use my legal education and leadership skills to address pressing social issues, promote systemic change, and enhance the quality of life for marginalized communities.

We at Watch The Yard would like to commend Jordan Colquitt for his work as the SGA president of Towson University.

Share this on Facebook and help us highlight Jordan Colquitt and Towson University.

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Madison Bergmann, a 24-year-old teacher at River Crest Elementary School in Wisconsin, was arrested on Wednesday (May 1) on charges of first-degree sexual assault following allegations of engaging in inappropriate behavior with a fifth-grade student.

According to charging documents obtained by CBS News, Bergmann allegedly had multiple encounters with the 11-year-old boy inside the classroom, during lunch, or after school. The parents of the child became aware of the situation after overhearing a phone conversation between their son and Bergmann, leading them to discover text messages between the two discussing intimate encounters.

The child reportedly disclosed to investigators that he and Bergmann communicated “almost daily” and that he obtained her phone number during a skiing trip with his mother, where Bergmann claimed it was for safety reasons. Subsequently, handwritten notes exchanged between the teacher and the student were found, detailing incidents where they kissed each other.

Bergmann, who became engaged to her longtime boyfriend in December, scheduled her wedding for July, according to reports from the New York Post, citing her social media accounts.

In response to the allegations, the River Crest School Principal issued a statement expressing shock and disturbance, emphasizing the school’s commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of its students.

Bergmann was released on a $25,000 signature bond following her arrest. The case has raised concerns within the community about the safety and security of students in educational settings.

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Today marks a milestone for GRAMMY® Award-winning and Oscar-nominated singer, songwriter, and producer TEMS as she unveils the official music video for her latest single, “LOVE ME JEJE,” via RCA RECORDS/SINCE ’93. The track, which serves as the lead single from her upcoming debut studio album, BORN IN THE WILD, has already captivated audiences worldwide with over 5.8 million streams since its release just last week.

Directed by TEMS herself, the visually stunning video pays homage to her roots and upbringing in Lagos, Nigeria. Infused with the infectious, feel-good energy of her homeland, the video promises to be a dance-worthy summer anthem. Notably, the video features Seyi Sodimu, whose Nigerian classic of the same name, released in 1997, inspired the single.

TEMS recently graced the stage at the Coachella Music Festival, where she teased and performed “Love Me JeJe” during both weekends to widespread acclaim. Her performance garnered rave reviews, with BILLBOARD praising her “striking debut set” backed by a picturesque outdoor setting that complemented her warm, powerful voice. Additionally, TEMS surprised fans with special appearances from Justin Bieber and Wizkid to perform their chart-topping hit, “Essence,” during weekend one.

Leading up to the release of her debut album, TEMS dropped two new singles, “ME & U” and “NOT AN ANGEL,” marking her first full-length release since her EP, ‘If Orange Was A Place,’ in 2021. “ME & U” has already amassed over 45 million streams and both songs have soared to No. 3 on Billboard’s U.S. Afrobeats Songs Chart. TEMS was also honored with the Breakthrough Award at Billboard’s 2024 Women in Music Awards, where she delivered a mesmerizing live performance of “NOT AN ANGEL.”

Watch the music video for “LOVE ME JEJE” below.

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