Black Scholars Union (BSU) organized and hosted the annual Black History Month assembly in the Mustang Mall on Feb. 8 to honor black culture.
The theme of African Americans in the arts for Black History Month this year, was chosen by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). According to senior BSU member Raven Melvin, BSU decided to follow that theme for the assembly because they felt they could incorporate fun activities to educate the students of Costa while also honoring the ASALH.
“There was a lot of behind the scenes work in terms of setting up for this assembly, from brainstorming ideas to preparing food and posters,” Melvin said. “It was all done with a passionate team who cares about our culture and community. A few honorable students even helped our club coordinator, Janet Allen, bake and prepare homemade pies on a school night to sell at the assembly.”
During homeroom on Feb. 8, a video created by BSU members was played in each classroom. The video opened with information about the origins of Black History Month. It explained that the national theme in 2024 centers around the arts. BSU wanted to highlight all types of art in their assembly such as clothing, dance, music as well as physical art.
“The most important thing going into this assembly was to educate and expose Costa students to African culture, “Melvin said. “That was our main intention when starting the whole process, but we wanted to do it in an engaging and authentic way which brought up the idea of games, food, music, and dancing.”
The second part of the video displayed interviews from students in BSU. The students shared their personal experiences with BSU and how embracing their culture plays a huge part of their identity today. The video was scripted and directed by juniors Donne Ward and Ryan Kim.
“After listening through the passionate interviews from the students in BSU who wanted to get their voices out to Costa about their own cultural experiences in the arts, it really motivated me to dive into the video,” Kim said. “[I wanted to] really put emphasis on how Black Culture has played a pivotal role in shaping American History. I would also like to point out that the Lip Sync Contest in November really inspired me as well.”
According to senior Hailey Fisher, it took lots of preparation for the event. BSU wanted to integrate various aspects of Black art into the assembly to showcase the plethora of talented African Americans who have contributed to so much positive impact and influence in the world today. The club was split into groups with an officer overseeing each group.
“ When setting up that day, we had groups organizing the food and others setting up posters but overall we helped one another with each booth to ensure everything was set up to the best of our ability,” Fisher said. “ I think the most important part of the assembly was the message we hoped to share with the school which was the importance of honoring this month and the people correlated with it but also utilize this time to learn and grow from one another in appreciating our differences and heritage.”
During office hours, there were many informational booths, music, dancing and food. BSU students wanted to sell food that was true to Black culture. According to Kim, the food was made entirely by students.
“ I chose to do the food booth because not only was I asked to set up the food and the booth before the assembly started but also voluntarily helped in the baking and cooking the night before the assembly,” Kim said. “It was a very fun experience and no matter how stressful it was, I would do it again and everyone will hopefully see me next year.”
The mustang mall was filled with different games and activities surrounding black culture. BSU wanted to focus on all aspects of the arts so they created booths accordingly. They had a booth to match art pieces with artists and encouraged students to learn about said artists. There were infographics on 2000s black singers such as Rihanna, Missy Elliot, J. Cole, Chris Brown and more. BSU had songs of those artists playing on a speaker on stage for everyone to listen to.
“We planned to make the assembly sort of a circle so that students could move around the mustang mall easily and get a feel for each section in the assembly,” senior Sexon Gilmore said. “My favorite part was seeing everyone walking around and looking at all the boards that members created.”
According to Melvin, BSU wanted a balance between fun and serious activities for the assembly. The poster boards were made to shed light on African Americans history and teach students about how important their culture is. However, they were also able to keep the assembly light-hearted by playing Cupid Shuffle on stage for example.
“I loved seeing the smiles on peoples faces and the fun they were having when playing and participating in the whole assembly, but specifically in the games that our students spent so much time and effort working on,” Melvin said. “It was very rewarding to see all of our hard work really pay off in such a positive way.”
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