Last month, Sista Hope 2, a student group at NHCC, met to host a Princess Paige Lemonade event on-campus. We caught up with NHCC student, Moneack Curry to learn more about the club and this bright, summery event.
鈥淪ista Hope 2 is a group geared toward minority students at NHCC and what we do is we provide a safe space. We don鈥檛 necessarily have limits. We鈥檙e here to help you succeed, however that may be. If it is finding resources for things that you鈥檙e going through. Whether that is helping with classwork, or whatever it may be. We鈥檙e just starting, but the vision that we have for this is bigger than ourselves. We really want to do more for women and children, because we鈥檙e all just going through a lot right now. Especially with the pandemic, everyone is still trying to recover, and you could really use a sister to lean on. That鈥檚 exactly what Sista Hope 2 is trying to be.鈥
On June 21, to celebrate the first day of summer, NHCC鈥檚 Sista Hope 2 group put on a summer kickoff event. At their event, the group invited Princess Paige Lemonade. Paige is a 9-year-old, Minneapolis native, who has her own lemonade business. Many local stores now carry Princess Paige鈥檚 Lemonade and Sista Hope 2 wanted to reach out to her. Moneack put this best by saying, 鈥淲e all thought, 鈥榯here鈥檚 no better way to kickoff summer than with a lemonade stand.鈥 And, also, as us being Sista Hope 2, sisters supporting the community, we thought; why not bring in a young, inspiring sister to lead the way.鈥 This kickoff event served as a way for people to come together, support one another, and enjoy each other鈥檚 company.
Up next for the Sista Hope 2 group is a retreat event. Moneack describes the retreat event further, 鈥淭he whole idea is that we all come together and figure out what our next steps are going to be as a group. Deciding what will be our next big thing and how we can reach more women. We don鈥檛 just want to reach the women here, inside NHCC, but the women outside of the school too.鈥 As a group, Sista Hope 2 would like to make plans to visit battered women鈥檚 shelters. Moneack commented, 鈥淚 have had family and personal experiences with those types of shelters, and this would be a way to give back to them.鈥 That鈥檚 just one of the big things the Sista Hope 2 group members want to do. 鈥淲e also want to fundraise, and work with the One2One program, based in Brooklyn Center, who go around and help junior high and high school kids. Since we know the Minnesota dropout rate is pretty high, especially for African American students, our goal is to reach out to those students and help them succeed. That way, maybe they鈥檒l eventually be able to take our places here.鈥
All NHCC students can participate in Sista Hope 2 and in their upcoming events. If you would like to join, please email either Moneack, or Belinda. Moneack鈥檚 email is moneack.curry@my.nhcc.edu and Belinda鈥檚 email is belinda.gardner@nhcc.edu.