Post Tagged with: "George Washington Carver"

Chapel Speakers, Class Projects, Quiz Contest Help Focus Students on Black History in February

Throughout February, ACS students participated in a variety of special activities for Black History Month. Chapel speakers, classroom assignments, bulletin board displays, and a quiz contest helped spotlight the history, culture, and accomplishments of African-Americans.

On February 2, Rev. Vena Noel-Jackson, a pastor with Yeshua’s Living Word Ministries, was the featured speaker in Middle School Chapel, where she highlighted the accomplishments of two African-American athletes — Ida Keeling and James “Jesse” Owens — and emphasized the importance of celebrating our uniqueness by the power and love of Jesus. Using examples from her own accomplishments as a runner, Rev. Jackson reminded the students that despite our differences – age, race, ability, etc. – we can all run for the same prize in following Jesus. An accomplished seamstress, Rev. Jackson also gave away to the students several hand towels with scripture inscribed on them.

On February 9, Upper School students welcomed chapel speaker and ACS parent Christian Ragland, who spoke on the school’s spiritual emphasis theme — God breathed — based on 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

“I believe the enemy is working overtime with your generation to sow seeds of anger and discontent and to make wrong look right,” Ragland said. “Don’t try to figure out how to solve your problems, but instead allow God to take over, to breathe His Word and His Spirit into your life.” Ragland is the operations pastor at Lighthouse Community Church in Pleasantville and is Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at AtlantiCare.

The Black History Month quiz contest ran for two weeks, from February 13-24, and nine African-Americans were highlighted. During morning announcements each day, students were given a question to answer about an influential African-American. The first student in each homeroom to tell their teacher the correct answer was entered into a contest to win a dress-down pass. The correct answer and a short biography of that person were read over the intercom into every classroom at the end of each day.

Some of the quiz questions and answers were:

Question: Who were the first two African-American quarterbacks to play in the same Super Bowl? Answer: Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes
Question: Who was the first African-American to win a Nobel Prize? Answer: Ralph Johnson Bunche
Question: Who was the first African-American woman to win an Academy Award for best actress? Answer: Halle Berry

The students who correctly answered the quiz questions and received dress down passes were:  in Elementary — Layla Aspenberg, Abigail Brunda, Milo Cirigliano Jeremiah Diaz, Allison Eachus, Alexia Gay, Sofia Huezo, Olivia Kuchmek, Erik Macpherson, Selah Melody, Myla Montemurro, Robert O’Donoghue, Addison Rawlings, Michael Saad, Ceci Tormey, Jordan Vielma, Hunter Wolcott, and John Wolcott; in Middle School — Josiah Christmon, Malani Christmon, Kiara Loo, Finn Maxwell, Layla McCarthy, Malena Meyer, Luca Sullivan, and Nathaneal Thompson; and in High School — Cruz Lewis, Zachary Fosbenner, Isaac Kelley, Evangelina Kim, Reyna Lewis, Michael Markert, Seth Phillips, and Jeriko Thomas.

Throughout the month, classroom lessons and projects highlighted the historical contributions of various of African-Americans and some of these projects were displayed in the first floor hallways. In the 2nd grade classes, students learned about the life and contributions of George Washington Carver. Mrs. Hockenberry’s class created a mosaic of his portrait and Mrs. Brossman’s and Ms. Leach’s classes completed a biography sheet on Carver.

Mrs. McCarthy’s 3rd grade class completed a project inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s memorable “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963.  A hallway wall display, entitled “Martin’s Dream was Big and So is Mine,” featured student essays about Dr. King and their own dreams for the future. Students in Mrs. Huff’s 3rd grader studied the life of civil rights activist Ruby Bridges and their hallway display highlighted a quote from Mrs. Bridges describing the lesson that she said Dr. King tried to teach us all — “Never judge people by the color of their skin. God makes each of us unique in ways that go much deeper.”

 

Class Projects, Chapel Speaker, Trivia Contest Help Focus Students on Black History

Throughout February, ACS students from preschool to high school participated in a variety of special activities and class projects for Black History Month. Bulletin boards, library displays, classroom assignments, and a trivia contest during morning announcements helped shine a spotlight on the history, culture, and accomplishments of Black Americans.

The quiz contest ran for two weeks in February and a total of 8 African Americans were highlighted as well as a quiz question on the 13th amendment. Students were told a fact about an influential Black American and were able to qualify to win a prize by being the first to find their Principal and correctly identify that person. Information about the noteworthy individuals and the 13th amendment were displayed on a large bulletin board in the Multi-Purpose Room.

On February 3, Elementary and Upper School students welcomed chapel speaker Christian Ragland, who spoke on the Biblical principles around diversity and inclusion. “Jesus lived by example and taught us to be kind to each other and to love our neighbors as ourselves,” Ragland said. “If you want to be God’s ambassador, you should not make assumptions about others because they are different from you. Ask questions and find ways to use what makes someone different to benefit the whole.” Ragland is the operations pastor at Lighthouse Community Church in Pleasantville and is Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at AtlantiCare.

 

A variety of classroom lessons and projects highlighted the historical contributions of African Americans and celebrated God’s plan for creating unity from diversity. Below are examples of some of these projects.