CINCINNATI — For 30 years, the African American Cultural and Resource Center has been a place where students can go to relax, connect and gain resources to help advance them in their academic careers. On Tuesday, they celebrated all of those efforts during a 30th anniversary celebration.

Bemnet Melaku is a fourth-year neuropsychology major at the University of Cincinnati. It’s a field she said she’s always been passionate about. 

“For me, it’s like understanding humans and their behavior, so I put those together with neuropsychology, and I also have a certificate in minority healthy because I’m really passionate about addressing health disparities,” said Melaku.

Melaku is one person among the 8% of African American students on Cincinnati’s campus. While the numbers have been growing, she said the lack of diversity has been a challenge for her throughout her four years at UC.

“It’s very rare for me to find someone that looks like me in my classes or in different spaces. But I was able to find my community through the AARC,” she said. 

The African American Cultural and Resource Center is where students of color may go to connect with others and receive resources to help them succeed on campus. One of those programs is called Transitions. It focuses on helping freshman students gain leadership skills through workshops and peer mentoring.

“It started being a Transitions student and watching the mentors and connecting with the AACRC staff,” she said. “After that, I started getting more involved as a Habari Ambassador and I became a base mentor myself. All of those experiences.”

What started as a place to just help students of color navigate through college and graduate, has become a place where students can thrive, learn more about their culture and feel comfortable on campus.

“It’s been like a safe haven for me, but also I’ve been able to grow a lot as an individual,” she said. “I don’t think I would have pushed to the level that I have been if I wasn’t involved in the center.”

Melaku said she’s excited to celebrate the center's 30th anniversary and its impact on campus.

“To see the growth of where we started 30 years ago, whenever those people worked so hard for us to get every small thing that they could, and now we’re here and every growing, I definitely think it’s a reason to celebrate,” she said.