by: Lindsay Cox
Anita Nash-Rent is a recipient of Parkland’s Outstanding Black Student Award. Nash-Rent, a returning ceramic arts student, was recognized by faculty and staff as an outstanding black student for her academic excellence and involvement in the community. She is one of seven students selected for this award.
In response to what Black History Month means to her, Nash-Rent said that, “I liken Black History month to the Christmas season. Everyone has made this conscious decision to acknowledge good will and peace and joy. It changes the whole dynamic of the world for like two months, everyone is just different. It’s because we choose to honor something. Black history month is kind of the same way.”
But for her, Black History Month is not always a celebratory time. “I do have to grieve a little bit that black history is not an overwhelming presence in our day to day lives throughout the entire year, because black folks really are the backbone of America. But since it is kind of a forced celebration, it does get people to stop and think about what it really means and that’s powerful,” Nash-Rent said. “What I teach my kids is that Black History Month is an opportunity to give permission to other people to look towards us for information. That’s something we can take advantage of and be proud about. In my home, we focus on our heritage, our people, the things that affect us, who we are as a society and a people all the time. But, personally in my home, that’s just who we are every day of the year.”
Nash-Rent is involved in her community through church, community choir, and vocal lessons. Most of the time, she oversees the gospel choir and worship team. Both of her parents are ministers and passed down their involvement in church to their kids. Nash-Rent eventually showed interest in leading the choir. “Certain things organically happened, but I think primarily it had to with being a pastor’s daughter.”
The ceramic art major is married with for kids. She hopes to transfer to four-year university to be able to focus solely on ceramics. Nash-Rent hopes to establish a career encouraging mental wellness through ceramics and music.
When Nash-Rent realized that a major in music wasn’t working out for her, she signed up for a ceramics class just because she wanted something new, different, and exciting just to help get her mind off of the stress that she was experiencing in other areas of her life. “The way that I always describe it is that clay grabs my whole entire life, all of my attention and a part of me that I never knew existed and turned it upside down. I could not think about anything else except for clay. I would spend so much time at the studio, inside and outside of class,” she said.
“I feel so lucky and blessed to have found ceramics, because it has been the catapult for a lot of change and mental wellness for me personally. Ceramics has opened me up to a lot of possibilities, not just towards a career,” Nash-Rent said.
“I feel so lucky and blessed to have found ceramics, because it has been the catapult for a lot of change and mental wellness for me personally”
Nash-Rent’s advice for other Parkland students is to pay attention to their bodies and their thought. “Acknowledge how you feel about something. Be brave enough to make choices even if it is the wrong choice. Reflecting on that cycle and seeing how you can learn from that and then do it again,” she said.
On person who inspires the award-winner is her husband, who is a musician. “He believes in me before I can honestly say that I believe in myself. I don’t know how or why, but he just thinks the world of me and thinks that I can do anything. It is because of that constant love and support through him that I started to lean into what he was saying, like ‘maybe I can do what he is saying,’” she said.
Nash-Rent commented that she has other heroes, like Maya Angelou, but her husband inspires her to grow and develop as a person.
