By Erica Bush ’25

When Otterbein senior Kenz Rentz first came to Otterbein as a freshman, she had no idea how large of a community she would find for herself and create for others during her time as an Otterbein student.

Rentz serves as president of Sisters United, treasurer of the Black Student Union, diversity chair of Tau Epsilon Mu sorority, and is a mentor in Otterbein’s Nurturing Educational Success and Transitions (NEST) program.

With February being Black History Month, Rentz has found herself working extra hard to plan and promote events in her various campus organizations to continue to foster the Black student community at Otterbein.

“Black Student Union is doing most of the Black History Month events. Sisters United and Men of Vision are also collaborating with the Black Student Union on some of these events,” Rentz said.

The events hosted by the Black Student Union in honor of Black History Month include Black history “Family Feud,” the annual relationship talk, and the Black Excellence Ball.

“A lot of our Black History Month events aren’t educational, it’s moreso collaborative events for us to exist in a space and celebrate us and our Blackness,” Rentz said.

While finding community in multiple Black student organizations, Rentz says that the true highlight of her time at Otterbein came from her experience in the NEST program and that she hopes that the next generation of Cardinals get to have as positive of experience as she did in the program.

“NEST is a program for first-generation college students, people of color, people who identify outside of standard religions, international students and just people who need more time to get adjusted to campus and the new environment,” Rentz said.

“The group of people I met in NEST was phenomenal. They were an integral part of making me feel like I could walk around and have faces to smile at.”