Elshadai Aberra | Social Media Editor
On Thursday, Feb. 28, the African Diaspora club hosted their 11th annual Black History Month event. The program’s title was “My Black Is…” and the aspect of the event was to explore the black culture of different black students and faculty members at Avon High School. The program consisted of singing, spoken word, and even a two person band. The night was mainly orchestrated by club sponsors Mrs. Robinson and Mrs. Moore.
“We decided to host it because we have done it almost every year since I’ve been teaching here and I believe that students, teachers, and even the community need some type of an experience in which they can come together and celebrate diversity from the African American perspective,” Moore said.
As the program was hosted in the ALC Cafeteria, contrary to the auditorium like usual, Moore did not expect it to be as successful as it had been the past few years; however, she was pleasantly surprised as there was a much larger turnout than she imagined. Moore even went as far as to say she 100% considered this year’s program a success.
“There were way more people than we could have ever dreamed or expected. We had plenty of food, the students did a great job with their talents, the panel discussion was very informative, and people left feeling inspired,” Moore said.
Of course, the program did not become a hit overnight as a tremendous amount of work had been put into it. Not only from the club sponsors, but also from the performers, techies, and even servers. While the African Diaspora club members met nearly every day for two weeks leading up to the 28th, it never felt like all work and no play. Club officer, sophomore Ayoola Laleye, said the program was a lot of hard work, but she had fun nonetheless.
“We met up almost every day leading up to the program to perfect our performances which was a bit much, but it was fun to work with the members of AD and the step team to put the program together,” Laleye said.
The major purpose of the African Diaspora club is to celebrate the diversity within the club and the Black History Month program offers an even deeper way for the members to express each of their roots. Even though this year is club officer, senior Brentt Tanis’, last year, he hopes to return next year to experience the sense of celebrating his heritage again.
“I’m graduating this year, but I’d love to come back and perform if I could. Or even just speak at an African Diaspora meeting,” Tanis said. “I love talking about my heritage and being Haitian and connecting with others. It’s also cool to see so many people come out and see everyone perform their talents.”
The Avon Echo 