Tragically, in November 2016 Asa O’Neal, a member of the class of Howard University 2020 became ill and passed away. Asa had been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, an autoimmune disorder, in high school and had been dealing with the disease for years. Despite the many hardships and struggles Asa had in his life, he was still a loving and positive person in his community and was deeply embedded on Howard’s campus as well as back in his home island St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.

The passing of Asa on veteran’s day 2016 was a very hard loss for his friends and classmates. As close friends, roommates, and fellow Bison, Asa was a brother to all of Howard. Since November slogans such as, “#DoItForAsa” and “#Everything4Asa” has been spread all throughout the class of 2020. We recognized and celebrated our brother Asa O’Neal with a vigil and memorial service just before Thanksgiving break. It was in these two services where in our sadness and grief we found strength and inspiration. The amount of stories of positivity and life changing encounters people had with Asa opened our eyes to the true impact he had on Howard’s community.

We collectively have been moved by Asa to make an even bigger impact in our own way by visiting Asa’s stomping grounds (USVI and Howard University) to participate in community service projects in honor of keeping his legacy alive. After our first community service trip to St. Croix in March 2017, Denise O’Neal named our group “Birds of like Feathers”, which is short for “Birds of like Feathers stick together”. This symbolizes the goal of our group to preserver during the hardest of times in life.