Commencement Profile: Bryan McCray on Building Community and Creating Local Change

Bryan McCray, '25 Political Science, became interested in politics at the age of four.

Barack Obama had just been elected as the first Black president of the United States. And even though he was fairly young, McCray felt a spark of curiosity light up inside of him.

He wanted to learn more - to understand exactly why a presidential election was so important and why it was so significant to see a Black man elected to the highest office in the nation.

"Ever since then, that curiosity drew me toward learning about history, politics and law," says McCray.

Growing up in Oakland, McCray noticed from a young age that access to resources and services were limited for people across the community.

"That was something I saw over time, and it changed my goals from wanting to make national change to wanting to make local change," says McCray.

McCray's interest in politics continued to deepen as he grew into a teenager.

When he got accepted into San José State in 2022, he showed up on campus with the mentality of getting through his college experience as quickly as possible, so that he could start moving toward a career.

"I just wanted to get college over with," says McCray. "That is, until I started getting involved on campus. Then I really started valuing my time here."

During the first semester of his freshman year, a group of friends dragged him to attend a Black Student Union (BSU) meeting. Although he had no desire to be there at first, McCray felt enlivened by the end of the meeting. He made some great connections and felt a strong sense of community.

He ended up joining BSU's board as their historian. The following year, he was co-president of the BSU, and the year after that, he became president.

"At the BSU, my main goal was to strengthen the Black community on campus," says McCray.

Working with other students, he helped to expand the organization and to cultivate a supportive, welcoming environment for all students.

In his sophomore year, McCray also got involved with the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the oldest collegiate Black fraternity. At the time, McCray was one of the first new students, along with one of his fraternity brothers, to be initiated as a member in the last five years.

"We knew we had to work to rebuild the chapter, and so we worked to do that over the last few years," says McCray, who now, in his senior year, is currently serving as president of the fraternity. "I feel like our presence has helped the community. We do community service events and host programs, like encouraging high schoolers to go to college. We also have a program for helping older brothers in the later stages of their lives. It's things like that that are really fulfilling. And I know that our impact has been felt over time in the community."

In both 2022 and 2023, McCray received recognition as a Dean's Scholar; and in 2023, he was awarded with a President's Scholar recognition.

This semester, as McCray gets closer toward commencement day, he has a lot on his plate.

He serves as a student leadership ambassador for the student involvement department. In this role, he works to strengthen community and encourage collaboration across Greek-letter organizations on campus.

"I've been trying to bridge gaps between all four of our Greek councils," says McCray.

Along with that job, McCray also works as a barista at Nirvana Soul's downtown San José location on 1st Street.

He also interns for the Black Action Alliance, an Oakland-based advocacy organization, helping with things like campaign planning, drafting blog posts and aggregating various sources of information.

After graduation, McCray hopes to find a job in politics or law; he's also planning to pursue another degree in the next few years.

"I just want to build community. I want to help the person next to me," says McCray. "I hope I've left that kind of impact on this campus - and out in the community as well."

SJSU commencement ceremonies take place December 17-18 at the Provident Credit Union Event Center. Learn more about commencement.