Black History Assembly features music, dance, poetry, and an inspirational guest speaker
Dr. Derreck Kayongo speaks to students at an all-school assembly celebrating Black History Month.
Students, faculty, and staff attended an all-school assembly on Friday, February 22 to celebrate Black History Month. Dean of Students Dr. Edye Simpson coordinated the annual event, which featured a charismatic guest speaker. Dr. Derreck Kayongo, a former refugee from Uganda, attended college in the United States and went on to found Global Soap Project, a company that recycles used hotel soap and redistributes it to impoverished communities worldwide.
“I liked the guest speaker and how he told us just to make the best out of every situation,” senior Chris Miller said.
Junior Annabelle Didier agreed. “The speaker actually taught me a lot about my contribution to society and how important each and every person is in creating a good society,” she said.
Senior Steven Hudson and sophomore Camden Wooden hosted the assembly, which began with a brief video celebrating black culture and success that juniors Hannah Chin, Brianna Harris, and Catherine Scott put together. Before and after Dr. Kayongo spoke, the student body also got to hear from several of their classmates. Sophomore Darryl Cooper read a short piece he wrote explaining why Black History Month was important to him, and freshman Sydney Reynolds and her senior brother Blake Reynolds shared an original poem about bullying and standing up to racism and hatred.
Another highlight of the morning was when seniors Carmella Durand, Carmen Anglin, and Versaille Jones, junior Colby Johnson, and freshman Gabrielle Harris performed a hip-hop dance to a mix of popular rap songs from the past few decades, including “Let Me Clear My Throat,” “Snap Your Fingers,” and “This Is How We Do It.”
“We wanted to play a bunch of famous old hip-hop and new hip-hop and integrate famous dances into it as well,” Jones said.
The assembly included several musical performances as well. The men’s vocal ensemble sang a South African song called “Shosholoza,” featuring sophomore soloist Sterling Hudson. It appears in the 2009 movie “Invictus” and is often referred to as the South African national anthem.
Hudson also ended the assembly with Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing,” a song that got the entire audience clapping along as he belted out the upbeat lyrics. Bill Withers’ hit song “Lovely Day” was covered by senior Noah Vrazel on the bass guitar and senior Matthew Harris on the saxophone, and junior Ashley Myles sang “Heartbreak Hotel,” an original song she wrote.
Here is the complete list of students who helped contribute to fun, positive, educational, and inspirational Black History Assembly: Carmen Anglin, Lauren Ashe, Hannah Chin, Darryl Cooper, Alanna Davis, Deaja Dunbar, Carmella Durand, Brianna Harris, Gabrielle Harris, Matthew Harris, Sterling Hudson, Steven Hudson, Colby Johnson, Versaille Jones, Feruz Mussie, Ashley Myles, Elim Negusse, Hunter Neil, Blake Reynolds, Sydney Reynolds, Sophia Ripoll, Jadon Rogers, Catherine Scott, Yonas Semere, Eric Sims, Natania Tedla, Noah Vrazel, Edwin Wiredu, and Camden Wooden.
