Live music played by the jazz-soul band Michael Fosters Project was provided for the African American Alumni Association Ball, Friday Oct. 22 at 9 p.m. The event was hosted in conjunction with the Office of Multicultural and International Student Affairs and Alumni Association.

In previous years, according to the African American Alumni president-elect Aaron Walker, Djs were in place.

“The Michael Fosters Project is a jazz, soul and brass band,” said Walker. “It was started by a couple of guys who went to Southern and LSU. They came down here kind of to give to the chapter.”

A new donation was also set in place for this annual event, going toward the new Endowment Scholarship.

“We’re charging at the door, and all of those proceeds are going toward our Endowment Scholarship which we’ll give out,” said Walker. “Actually, this is going to be the first year we give that award out to an African American student probably in the spring of this year.”

Though the award will be provided to only one student this year, Walker assured that plans were more far-reaching.

“We’re trying to raise funds so that we can give the award to more and more students,” he said,  “and that’s what this event is for tonight.”

The Endowment award is not the only award given by the African American Alumni Association and Multicultural studies.

“We also give out a Role Model of the Year award, which is not particularly a scholarship. It’s just a donation toward the student who has above a 2.5 GPA and is involved in a lot of campus organizations on campus”, said Walker “We give that out each spring in conjunction with the African American Achievements award.”

Walker and fellow alumni had a large turnout this year. According to the president, on average about 100 or 150 alumni participate in the ball annually, which has been hosted for about five years.

Alumni Terrin Mitchell, of the class of ‘83 graduated with a major in Social Welfare and was on the Lionettes dance team. She stated that this was her first time revisiting Southeastern since her graduation.

“I’m having a good time,” said Mitchell. “I recognize some people from the fraternities, Gamma Delta, and the sorority Delta Sigma Theta.”