Averi Roberts is a student journalist at the Walter Cronkite school at Arizona State University assigned to cover the Arcadia football team.

Diversity within school is what brought everyone together.

Arcadia High School’s African American Student Union is the biggest club on campus and is led by the high school football team quarterback, Kadin Beler. The club is sponsored by Shannon Paloma, a teacher at Arcadia.

Beler’s older brother, Mekhi Beler, was the one of the founders of the club on campus. After the 2016 election caused some racial tension nationwide, Mekhi and several other African-American students came to Paloma with the desire of a community on the campus where they could eat lunch, feel safe, and voice their feelings.

A club that started out small with around four members in 2016 is now between 60 to 70 members in 2019. It is the biggest club attendance turnout for any Arcadia club.

Kadin and Mekhi’s mother, Kimberly Beler, is overcome with pride when it comes to her two sons building the largest club in the school.

“I feel so proud. I think I’ve bragged on that aspect for about a year now. Just to see something created by my oldest son. He started it, he put in all of his brainchild,” Kimberly Beler said. “And to see his brother take over and carry it on, I’m just so proud of him. And [Kadin] took his older brothers concept, and he expanded it. You can’t ask for more.”

When Kadin became president, he took on many duties for the club.

“Leading club meetings, always being in charge of what to do when it comes to events, going out and being the spokesperson for the club," Kadin said.

The African American Student Union isn’t the only school program Kadin leads; He is also the captain of the football team. Kadin helped lead the team to an overall record of 6-4 in the 2019 season, accumulating more than 2,369 yards and throwing for 25 touchdowns.

And Kadin isn’t the only football player that attends the meetings. Many of his teammates go, as the club is a place for the players to connect off the field.

Sysco Rodarte is a junior cornerback for Arcadia football team. He had 14 solo tackles in the 2019 season. At first, he started to attend the club meetings at lunch with his friends, but soon realized more of what the club had to offer.

“The honest reason is because my friend used to go in there. Going in there every day for lunch and seeing how the club was and the atmosphere of it, it really changed me,”  Rodarte said.

Rodarte spent time thinking about diversity at Arcadia and how it could seem that everyone was defined differently. He felt that this club brought everyone together.

Another Arcadia football player that attends the club is Marcus Williams. Williams is a wide receiver and defensive back for Arcadia and totaled 723 receiving yards in the 2019 season. This club has taught him a virtue that he also applies to football.

“Respect. Respect for the player in front of me. Even though it’s football, I still have to have respect for the person in front of me,” Williams said.

Arcadia’s club is affiliated with the East Valley National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a chapter that serves the communities of the greater Phoenix area.

Arcadia’s African American Student Union was recognized with the Next Generation Change Agent Award at the Freedom Fund Awards: an award given to a school club that had been making change within the community and campus. This was the first time this award had been given to the club.

“It was a huge, huge honor,” Paloma said. “There were people throughout the valley who were seeing what they were doing, and are noticing their hard work. And that’s a cool thing .”

The club puts on activities for the school such as free hugs day, movie nights, a festival, and any other events that bring the school together.

Rodarte wants this club to bring the school together and to make sure that all students at the school know that they can join too. Rodarte hopes that the one big focus of the club is what student’s get out of the African American Student Union.

“Just love. We love anyone that comes by the club no matter what skin tone you are. Everyone is welcome,” Rodarte said.