By Kayla Samimi
Executive News Editor
Several hundred Mira Costa students and staff members attended the Black History Month Assembly on Wednesday in the auditorium where a total of nine performances spread awareness and appreciation for African American culture.
Costa’s Black Scholars Union Club, a club that works to promote African American culture, planned the assembly with the help of the club’s advisor, school psychologist Janet Allen.
Speakers included Costa English teachers Diana Sieker and Shawn Chen; art teacher Valerie Park; history teachers Steven Singiser and Ian Uhalt; Principal Dr. Ben Dale and Vice Principal Deborah Hofreiter.
Photos: A variety of groups and individuals performed and spoke at the assembly.
“The Black History Month Assembly is an excellent way for the students and faculty to learn more about black culture,” BSU Treasurer and senior Michai Clinton said. “It was a success.”
Costa’s jazz band opened the assembly, performing several songs. The Vocal Ensemble then sang the African American National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” by James Weldon Johnson. Then, the Advanced Dance Company performed to the songs “Man in the Mirror” and “Black or White,” by Michael Jackson.
“Our group felt lucky to perform at the assembly because it helps us feel connected to the different cultures here,” Vocal Ensemble member and junior Bianca Dulong said.
Dale was the event’s first speaker and discussed the importance of standing up to social injustice. He discussed how as a student, he witnessed incidents of racism on campus.
“I never thought I would get asked to speak,” Dale said in his speech. “The message I want to get across is that if you see injustice, you have do the right thing and get involved.”
Link: Check out a previous La Vista story about BSU’s creation.
Chen read the poem “Still I Rise,” by Maya Angelou, alongside seniors Connor Tree, Zach Moore, Isabel Grey and Jennifer Marer. While each took turns reading lines of the poem, BSU members and students waved handmade paper phoenixes on the auditorium stage. According to Chen, the phoenixes represented how good things can arise from destructive aspects of one’s life.
“The poem signifies the struggle people have to go through even today,” Tree said. “The reading went really well.”
Link: Read about the reason behind the creation of Black History Month.
The Black History Assembly initiative is a nationwide effort to spread awareness about African American history. According to Clinton, BSU is planning to hold another assembly next year.
“Hopefully, [the next assembly] will go just as this one did,” Clinton said.
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