Students take key roles in Black History Month celebration - Post-Tribune

I* word, song and dance, Grissom Elementary School students participated recently in one of the Lake Ridge Schools' annual cultural observances.

Students from kindergarten to fifth grade packed into the small gymnasium in Gary's Black Oak section for a program concluding Black History Month.

Students were reminded of the contributions of civil rights leaders. Fourth-graders read brief biographies, including those of Children's Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman and inventor George Washington Carver.

Directed by music teacher Diedre Danek, students in Angela Ruiz's and Juanita Hughes' fifth-grade classes sang the playful "Crawdad Song" and "Little Sally Walker," followed by the introspective "What Can One Little Person Do?"

Some students were selected beforehand to help produce the musical numbers.

"In our music class, my teacher, Miss Danek, said if we had any ideas for the songs we could stand up and dance to them," said fifth-grader Xzaiver Lopez, 12.

In a tribute to the late music icon and Gary native Michael Jackson, Grissom students Keonte Anthony, Nick Fuson and Lucky Mares wore fedoras and sequin-decorated gloves as they moved to the sounds of "Beat It."

Furthering the idea of promoting something positive, students swayed to the recent remake of the 1984 USA for Africa song, "We Are the World," which was projected on a big screen.

Later, Sharon Johnson-Shirley, superintendent of Lake Ridge Schools, applauded the children for their spirit.

"Grissom Elementary School really knows how to celebrate Black History Month in great fashion," she said. "So give yourselves a hand."

She presented certificates of appreciation to Hughes, the longtime Grissom cultural history events coordinator, and Ruiz.

The superintendent said she was impressed by how the students learned about the contributions of civil rights trailblazers.

Johnson-Shirley said she imagined the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. would be happy to see students of different colors learning side-by-side at the school.

Then she adapted the "Afro-Centric Creed" and asked all the students to repeat the words.

"I have faith in myself," Johnson-Shirley recited. "I have faith in my teachers. I will accept my duties and responsibilities. I respect others; I seek that respect.

"I have self-respect. I have self-control ... I love myself and, in loving myself, I will be the best person I can be."Juanita Hughes, Grissom Elementary School fifth-grade teacher and longtime coordinator of cultural presentations at the school, joins students watching the remake of "We Are The World" on the gym's projection screen during the recent Black History Month program. -- photo provided

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.