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Georgia Gwinnett College’s (GGC) Juneteenth Celebration embraced a spirit of unity, emphasizing fellowship, family and camaraderie among students, staff and their families.  Now in its second year, the event sought to build on the success of last year’s celebration with a slightly different focus.

Ryan Smith, assistant director of Student Life, coordinated GGC’s  2024 Juneteenth celebration. He said this year’s event was less structured and more organic.

“We offered more of a casual program this year,” he explained. “During last year’s inaugural event, we focused on disseminating information and facts about Juneteenth. This year, we wanted to offer an opportunity where people could hang out, network and build comradery.”

Smith, who himself graduated from GGC in 2015, said the event meant a lot to him personally.

“When I was in school, I didn’t have an opportunity to see these types of events,” he said. “Now that I work for the college, I’m in the position to coordinate these events. It makes me happy to be able to share this with my peers, while enlightening students about what Juneteenth is, what it means to us as a culture and what it means to GGC.

Student Jasmine Primo, 21, of Lawrenceville, attended the event with her family. Primo, a third-year psychology major, said she “just wanted to take in everything.”  While this was the family’s first Juneteenth celebration, it wasn’t the first time they attended a GGC event. Primo and her sister, Jewelle Primo, 18, a GGC first-year English major, attended GGC’s Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) service day on campus in January. The Primo sisters brought their grandfather, Patrick Grant, a native of Guyana who lives in New York.

“Juneteenth is important because we have to recognize our history and honor how far we’ve come,” she said. “It’s a day for us to celebrate, honor our ancestors and look forward to the future.”

Primo said she didn’t always know about Juneteenth. She learned about the event about seven years ago.

“We always celebrated the American Independence Day on July 4, but we weren’t really connected to it,” Primo said. “So, recognizing where our independence really came from and how hard we had to fight to get that independence while overcoming the challenges more than a century later, it’s so important to recognize that type of work.”

In his quiet wisdom, Grant said that the celebration allows his grandchildren to embrace their heritage and take pride in who they are.

“It’s important to recognize that we are someone.”

View and download photos from Juneteenth at GGC.