History
The National African Students Association, LLC was created in order to promote unity and cooperation among African student groups and campuses across the United States. Up until the formation of national organization, African student groups were highly fragmented. Although some have made an attempt to cooperate with neighboring universities, for the most part, there has been no cooperation on a larger scale.
On March 3rd 2007, the African Student Association of CU-Boulder hosted their first annual African Unity Conference in Colorado. The conference was received with much anticipated excitement by Colorado universities that also house an African Student group. This conference served to unify Colorado African student groups and encouraged future cooperation. As their conference was a great success the University of Colorado decided to extend this invitation of family and unity to their African brothers and sisters across the nation.
Under the leadership of 2008-2009 National A.S.A. president, Serwaa Adjei, universities across the U.S. were invited to join the national organization. Over the summer of 2008, nominated representatives from member universities met in order to create a mission statement, constitution and goals for the national organization. At the end of the summer of 2008, members of the founding committee elected the first National A.S.A. Executive Board. These five phenomenal women worked tirelessly to create a national organization that will help to unify, empower African students, and encourage national service for the progress of the African continent.
Under Crystal Nnenne Azu’s tenure as the 2nd National President during the 2009-2010 school year, National A.S.A held a successful Inaugural National Conference with hundreds of students in attendance at the Atlanta location. During that year, the organization also expanded its structure to include Regions to facilitate relationships with the local student groups. The boards worked together with the National Board to implement various campaigns in addition to conference planning such as collaborations with: ONE.org Campus and the ‘Empowered by Numbers’ Campaign 2010. The 2010-2011 school year was headed by Chris Opoku-Agyemang who continued the National Conference tradition.
Currently
Our member universities realize that as a cohesive unit, we can make great strides in effecting positive change within our immediate communities as well as our communities back home in Africa. The ranks of the National ASA continue to grow to create a united front of students empowered to create change on the continent. The National ASA is now composed of a new Executive Board with Four Regions in addition to the National Board. The organization endeavors to create more collaborations with student universities and be involved with more philanthropic initiatives for the African continent.
