UNI Celebrates Black History Month - Bre Gunnels
2/25/2021
Every year when Black History Month comes around, senior UNI women’s basketball player Bre Gunnels is proud to see all the things added to the history within the black community.
This year, with incidents involving the black community across the country and the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, this month brings even more meaning.
“So much is happening and changing everyday, and this month you really get to realize all of it,” she said.
She has always excelled in the community and in the classroom. She was First-Team All-Conference all four years in high school and was named Player of the Year in her conference twice, all while setting the Southeast High School (Kansas City) scoring record.
She was a member of the National Honors Society and the Kauffman Scholars program before graduating.
We’re introduced everyday to new black history and I start to think that I’m even making black history of my own in some ways.
At UNI, she is a two-year starter and earned conference Player of the Week honors earlier this season.
Now, on top of her athletics and academics, she has embraced a role as an activist. She attends meetings and events held by the Black Student Union and other clubs and was a part of UNI’s student-guided UNIty Walk this fall.
Gunnels said that overall the Cedar Falls area and UNI has done a good job for minority students but things can always be improved.
“I think we all have to be aware of things that are an issue that weren’t on a forefront before,” she said. “Things that are just so common that can be embedded into people’s minds so early on that are in reality an issue or a starting point to becoming one.”
After all the racial injustices that the United States and the black community has endured over the past year, it is important to be a part of the action toward change. Gunnels is finding her voice in this movement and is excited, not only about the history of Black Americans, but the future. As a young person and an optimist, she feels like we are in a moment of change in our country and she is ready to be a part of it.
“We’re introduced everyday to new black history and I start to think that I’m even making black history of my own in some ways.”
