A Celebration Like No Other
By Aidan Dobrosielski, Editor-in-Chief (2024)
Image Courtesy of Justin Peralta, Senior
During the last week of Black History Month, The Clarkstown North Black Culture Club planned a very memorable week of celebration, making their mark on our school community. From planning a Tunes Tuesday Playlist to ordering African, Caribbean, and Hispanic foods for students to taste during lunch periods, North students found many avenues to showcase their unique cultures.
Seniors Summer Harris and Morgan Grant talked to the administration about their idea to create a Black History Celebration Week at North earlier this year. Harris told Ram’s Horn Editor-in-Chief, Aidan Dobrosielski, “Our school usually never does anything special for Black History Month, besides maybe sharing some facts about important black historical figures on poster boards.” Harris and Grant had something else in mind. “I wanted to do something fun that would genuinely get people interested so that's where the idea for a Spirit Week came in,” Harris said.
Image Courtesy of Justin Peralta, Senior
To start off the week, the club created a playlist with various songs from famous African-American musicians and bands to play on the speaker in between periods for Tunes Tuesday. Wednesday was “Represent Your Flag Day,” where students were encouraged to wear shirts that displayed their culture’s flag. It was a great way to celebrate different cultures within our school community. Everyone’s story is different and should be equally heard and shared.
Image Courtesy of Summer Harris, Seniors
Students Cameron Harris and Lemmy Jeune representing their flag
On Thursday, students were delighted to see that there was more than just the cafeteria food on the menu for lunch. The Black Culture Club and the Clarkstown North administration treated students to a variety of foods from African, Caribbean, and Southern cuisines. Each food represented a different part of the African diaspora. Foods from Caribbean culture included jerk chicken, mac and cheese, and rice and peas. Harris said, “A lot of people expressed to me that it was their first time ever eating jerk chicken and that they really liked it, so as a Jamaican, that was definitely something that made me really happy.” Delicious chicken and collard greens were standouts, and the vanilla cakes ordered from Vilma’s Bakery in Haverstraw were filled with guava and pineapple filling.
Image Courtesy of Justin Peralta, Senior
Image of the cake enjoyed by students and staff at Clarkstown North
Morgan Grant and Summer Harris would like to thank Mr. Stoll, Mrs. Reim, and the rest of the administration for making the celebration as successful as it was. Ms. Poulos and Ms. Gertzer also helped with the ideas. Summer Harris told Ram’s Horn, “As for students who helped out today, I want to give a huge thanks to Justin Peralta, Kylie Marte, Lemmayah Magloire, Alicia Ouchterloney, Emma Cisneros, and Jazlyn Rodriguez for making the day run as smoothly as it did. I am genuinely so thankful.”
The Black Culture Club was able to bring various cultures together and share them with the North student body through food, fun, and information, something that has never been done at North during Black History Month. Clarkstown North students making history at its finest. Go Rams!