Black History Photo Challenge Inspires Student Role Models

Black History Photo Challenge Inspires Student Role Models



Throughout the month of February, students have been discovering new role models through the Black History Month Photo Challenge.

"Black history is everyone's history," says Diversity Director Melissa Lowery. "This activity brings the whole school together to explore black history and grow in our collective understanding."

Students, faculty, and staff, are invited to research, reflect, and post stories on the Photo Challenge Board (located in Senior Hall) from the following categories of inspiration:

  • An influential African American man or woman
  • African American author & book
  • An invention by an African American
  • HBCU (Historically Black College/University)
  • Little known Black History fact
  • Most memorable Black History moment

Some faculty are using the Photo Challenge to engage their classroom in discussions around diversity, equity, and inclusion. In Father Christopher Calderón's 5th period Freshman Faith Formation class, students embraced the opportunity to discover new role models through their study of the Portraits of Jesus. Many students chose to focus their projects on lesser known scientists of color and politicians. One student reflects,"Through this project, I realized that there are many black scientists who have been marginalized."

As the students wrap up their studies of the Portraits of Jesus, Father Calderón hopes that the activity encourages them to seek out diverse role models and share their stories. "Jesus as Compassionate appears in unexpected ways in the lives of some tremendous, lesser known historical figures."

In addition to the Photo Challenge, students, families, faculty, and staff participated in several activities exploring black identity and celebrating the history and achievements of black people, including a film screening of Black Girl in Suburbia and a brown bag lunch with Hip Hop and Spoken Word Artist, Antoine Stoudamire '89 (AKA Madgesdiq).

For information about campus diversity programs, initiatives, parent affinity groups, and more, visit the Diversity & Inclusion page on our website.

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