Last year, we began a committee for Black History Month mostly consisting of staff who were committed to furthering conversations of the importance of listening and learning more about the importance of Black History Month that would move beyond February. It culminated in this resource which homeroom teachers explored with students. It also led to the creation of a new club: RIDE which aims to continue conversations about equity at the school.
We continue to honour this initiative and have adapted the term, Black Heritage Month, so as to celebrate heritage and culture. As much as we were proud of the resource, we recognized that the student voice was absent. And so, this year, we invited students from various clubs and councils at the school to engage in conversations about why they thought it was important to acknowledge and celebrate Black Heritage Month and to help create resources which would continue the conversations we began last year.
They decided upon the following themes for the year:
Week 1: Why Heritage Month
Week 2: Black Excellence
Week 3: Allyship
Week 4: Beyond February
Students created this introductory video:
In addition to the creation of the resource and introductory video, the Student Council, History Club, and Athletic Council created social media posts which they hoped would further inspire students at the school to consider the contributions of Black Canadians and to promote learning, reflection and allyship.
We are also hosting a guest speaker, Jeff A Martin for a virtual presentation on February 16th.